Hazel Blears resigns from cabinet

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Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has resigned from the cabinet.

She has been under fire over her expenses and was tipped for the axe in a reshuffle expected after European and English local elections on Thursday.

The Salford MP, a former Labour Party chairman, paid back just over £13,000 after claims that she avoided capital gains tax over a property sale.

She denied doing anything wrong but Gordon Brown described her expenses claims as "unacceptable".

In a resignation statement, Ms Blears said: "Today I have told the prime minister that I am resigning from the Government.

"My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, given the right support and encouragement.

"The role of a progressive Government should be to pass power to the people. I've never sought high office for the sake of it, or for what I can gain, but for what I can achieve for the people I represent and serve.

"In this next phase of my political life I am redoubling my efforts to speak up for the people of Salford as their Member of Parliament. I am returning to the grassroots (where I began), to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate.

"Most of all I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too.

"I am glad to be going home to the people who matter the most to me: the people of Salford.

"Finally, there's an important set of elections tomorrow. My message is simple: get out and vote Labour."