Culture secretary Nicky Morgan to step down

Culture secretary Nicky Morgan has announced she will not be standing in the forthcoming general election.

The MP for Loughborough announced her decision on Twitter, with a photo of a letter in which she outlined her reasons.

She said she could not commit to another five-year term and said: “Now is the time for me to stand aside and be at home far more.”

Morgan added the “clear impact” of being an MP on her family, and the abuse she has suffered, could only be “justified if… Parliament does what it is supposed to do – represent those we serve in all areas of policy, respect votes cast by the electorate and make decisions in the overall national interest”.

Morgan became culture secretary in July, replacing Jeremy Wright.

As a former education secretary, Morgan came under fire from the arts sector in 2015 when she claimed that young people choosing to study creative subjects at school could “hold them back for the rest of their lives”, and argued that the subjects that “keep people’s options open and unlock doors to all sorts of careers are the STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects”.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan: ‘Arts subjects limit career choices’