Reinstated Labour MP quits party over his treatment

JARED O’MARA, the Labour MP, has quit his party just two days after he was reinstated following disciplinary action, claiming he was made to feel like a “criminal” by senior figures.

The new MP, who has never spoken in Parliament despite being elected last year, had been suspended from Labour since October over alleged homophobic and misogynistic comments.

He resigned last night in a letter to constituents in which he said he had been “made unfairly to feel like a criminal” by the party’s disciplinary process, which reinstated him on Tuesday.

Party officials said he should attend training and was given a formal warning over alleged remarks he made when he was younger.

But in the letter posted online, Mr O’mara, who has autism, said: “I didn’t commit any crimes, yet I have been made unfairly to feel like a criminal. Nobody should be made to feel ashamed for mistakes they make when they are young.”

Justifying his decision to stand down from the party after he replaced Nick Clegg last year, Mr O’mara added: “I would be lying to those of you whom I represent, and those close to me, if I continued under the pretence that I feel there is a place of acceptance and empathy for me as a working-class, underprivileged disabled man within the Labour Party. I have experienced little to make me feel welcome, understood and accepted during this last year.”

Mr O’mara was suspended last year and later investigated by the party after he allegedly called a woman he was dating an “ugly b----” and used transphobic slurs.

He will continue as the MP for Sheffield Hallam but sit as an Independent, which means his votes in Parliament will not count towards Labour totals.

A Labour spokesman said the party was “disappointed” he had decided to resign, adding: “We wish him well for the future.”