Former Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith to quit Parliament at election
2 min read
Former Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith will stand down as an MP at the general election.
The Pontypridd MP said he was quitting for "political and personal reasons" in a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, who he failed to dislodge as leader in 2016.
He was first elected to the seat in 2010 and had a majority of more than 11,000 at the last election.
Mr Smith announced his decision just moments after MPs voted to hold a general election on 12 December.
The former BBC journalist, who has been a vocal campaigner for a second EU referendum, was one of 20 MPs to vote against the snap poll.
In his letter to Mr Corbyn, he said: "It has been an enormous privilege to serve as a Labour MP and I am truly proud to have represented by hometown of Pontypridd over the last decade.
"I would like to thank all those in the Labour party and the wider community who have supported me.
"I woud also like all of my constituents to know that it has been a great honour to serve as their Member of Parliament."
Mr Smith challenged Mr Corbyn for the Labour leadership in the wake of the 2016 EU referendum, but was comfortably beaten by 313,209 votes to 193,229.
He went on to serve as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary in 2018 after calling for a second referendum, a policy that Labour went on to adopt.
At the time, he said: "Labour needs to do more than just back a soft Brexit or guarantee a soft border in Ireland.
"Given that it is increasingly obvious that the promises the Brexiters made to the voters – especially, but not only, their pledge of an additional £350m a week for the NHS – are never going to be honoured, we have the right to keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country.
"And to ask, too, that the country has a vote on whether to accept the terms, and true costs of that choice, once they are clear. That is how Labour can properly serve our democracy and the interests of our people."
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