Leaving office over allowances, family concerns
Britain’s overseas territories will have a new U.K. minister shortly, following the resignation Monday of Mark Simmonds.
Mr. Simmonds told the BBC in a broadcast statement that he made the decision to leave the foreign office position several weeks ago. He also plans to depart elected office when the British elections are held next year.
The British government has announced that MP James Duddridge will replace Mr. Simmonds in his ministerial position.
A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Mr. Simmonds agreed to stay on the job in order to chair United Nations meetings in New York concerning the ongoing situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“There’s nothing suspicious about this resignation, there’s no difference between myself and government on policy,” Mr. Simmonds told the BBC. “The reason behind my resignation is that the impact upon family life has become intolerable.
“The allowances that allow the members of parliament to stay in London while they’re away from their families … does not allow me to rent a flat that can accommodate my family, so I very rarely see my family.”
The Cayman Islands governor’s office said it had been taken by surprise by Mr. Simmonds’s resignation on Monday and could provide no further statement regarding the matter. Mr. Duddridge, 42, is a conservative MP who has represented Rochford and Southend East since 2005.
According to the U.K. website theyworkforyou.com, which monitors the voting records of British parliamentarians, Mr. Duddridge advocated strongly for reducing the number of MPs in the House of Commons.
From Cayman’s perspective, it may be interesting to note that he voted strongly in favor of having an equal number of electors [voters] per parliamentary constituency and was strongly against a more “proportional representation” system for electing MPs.
Proportional representation systems of government typically, but not always, involve multi-member constituency elections.
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