Esther McVey: Who is the former work and pensions secretary and why has she resigned over Brexit?

Tatton MP becomes second cabinet minister to resign over Brexit deal

Esther McVey has resigned from Theresa May’s government, saying the prime minister’s Brexit deal “does not honour the result of the referendum”.

The ex-work and pensions secretary called the draft withdrawal agreement a threat to the integrity of the UK and said she believed it would “bind the hands” of the current and future governments in trade negotiations.

“We wouldn’t be taking back control, we would be handing over control to the EU and even to a third country for arbitration,” she added in the second cabinet resignation letter to land on Ms May’s desk on Thursday morning, after Dominic Raab’s.

Who is Esther McVey?

Ms McVey was first elected to parliament as the member for Wirral West in 2010. She represented the constituency until losing her seat in 2015.

During her first spell as an MP Ms McVey was caught up in a controversy surrounding shadow chancellor John McDonnell, when in 2014 the then-backbench Labour MP repeated comments from campaigners who had called for her to be “lynched”. He refused to apologise, saying he merely repeated the phrase and did not support it.

She re-entered the Commons in 2017 when Theresa May called her snap election. Ms McVey was elected to George Osborne’s old seat, in Tatton, in a poll that saw the Conservatives lose their parliamentary majority; she won with 58.6 per cent of the vote.

She accepted the post of work and pensions secretary in January this year, becoming the fourth person to occupy the role inside 18 months. She had previously been a minister of state in the Department of Work and Pensions under Iain Duncan Smith before moving on to become treasurer of Her Majesty’s household – deputy chief whip – following her re-election in 2017.

Within months of her appointment she was forced into U-turns on universal credit (UC) and housing benefit for young people aged between 18 and 21. Following a damning scrutiny committee report the government conceded it would have to publish internal reviews of UC, its flagship benefit policy.

Last month Ms McVey admitted some UC claimants would be “worse off” under the new all-in-one benefit, and in July she had to apologise to the Commons after misleading the House on whether a National Audit Office report had called for UC’s rollout to be paused.

What has she said about Brexit?

Ms McVey repeatedly refused to back Ms May’s Chequers plan for a soft Brexit, reflecting the stance of her Cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt. She did, however, say publicly this summer that she had “full confidence in the prime minister to deliver the Brexit that Britain voted for”.

Her resignation letter made clear that was no longer the case.

She told the PM: “The proposals put before cabinet, which will soon be judged by the entire country, means handing over £39bn to the EU without anything in return. It will trap us in the customs union, despite you specifically promising the British people we would not be.

“The British people have always been ahead of politicians on this issue, and it will be no good trying to pretend to them that this deal honours the result of the referendum when it is obvious to everyone it doesn’t.”

She would not be able to “look my constituents in the eye” if she defended her boss’ deal, Ms McVey added.

Large pockets of her constituency voted to leave the EU, though overall it leaned towards remain, according to Parliamentary estimates.

What more do we know?

Ms McVey, 50, revealed in her speech to the Conservative conference this year that she had been a “Barnardo’s child” and spent the first two years of her life in care. The charity provides “unconditional support, without judgment, giving the space, time and help for people to get back on their feet”, she told delegates in October.

The Liverpool native is the partner of Tory backbencher Philip Davies.

Her website describes her as a businesswoman and broadcaster; she is a former presenter of GMTV. “She has written several careers books for girls and boys which have been turned into plays by the National Youth Theatre and have been performed around the country as well as in London’s West End,” her biography adds.