South Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom announces she will not be standing for re-election

Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire, Dame Andrea Leadsom, has announced she will not be standing for re-election on July the 4th, ending her 14 year parliamentary career.

Leadsom becomes the 78th of Rishi Sunak's party to leave parliament.

In her letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, she said "some of my happiest moments in politics have been in achieving positive outcomes for my constituents."

Ms Leadsom has taken on an array of roles in her career, including environment secretary, business secretary and Leader of the House of Commons.

Speaking in her to the Prime Minister about her time as the Leader of the House of Commons, Ms Leadsom said "as Leader of the Commons, I led the creation of the Independent Complaints and Grievance scheme, to make Parliament a place where everyone would be treated with dignity and respect, and I also brought forward the legislation for the Restoration and Renewal of the Houses of Parliament.

I hope that both will, in time, result in even greater global regard for this iconic home of what is, I believe, the greatest democracy."

She also spoke of other hopes she has for the next government, addressing her work on supporting families to give babies the best start in life.

She said "I hope and pray the next government will take forward this work to change our society for the better."

Touching on Ms Leadsom's most recent role, she said "I would like to thank you for your faith in giving me the responsibility as Minister for Start For Life, Primary Care and Public Health.

Working on rolling out our Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, our dental contract reform, our new support for GPs and our world leading Smoke Free Generation bill have been a great privilege."

Ms Leadsom did not outline her reasons for standing down.

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