Conservative MP to quit due to ill health
THE Conservative MP who unseated the former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith at the 2010 general election will not stand again in June, citing “ill health”.
Karen Lumley said it had been an honour to serve her constituency in Redditch, Worcestershire, but that voters needed someone who was “fully fit” to serve them in parliament.
In a statement she said: “Redditch has been my home for nearly 20 years and it has been a huge honour to have represented its great people for the past seven.
“Sadly due to ill health I have decided not to stand for re-elec- tion. There is nothing more important or rewarding than helping people, however I need to be fully fit to be able to undertake the job properly.
“I am immensely grateful to all the fantastic people I have met during my time as a Member of Parliament and want to say a huge thank you for all of their support.”
Mother-of-two Ms Lumley, who was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, backed Brexit during the EU referendum. She also campaigned against plans to downgrade services at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, which in recent years had become an important policy battleground locally. Health campaigners who had fought for 11 years against the stripping of services from the town’s hospital admitted defeat in January this year. Ms Lumley defeated Labour’s Jacqui Smith in 2010 after the former Secretary became in the MPs’ expenses Home embroiled scandal.