Sarah Wollaston: I’ll keep providing scrutiny, says newly independent MP

Former GP Sarah Wollaston will remain as chair of the health select committee after her resignation from the Conservative Party.

The member for Totnes, the first MP to have been elected after an “open primary” in which voting for selection as a candidate was open to the public, not just party members, announced her decision to leave the Tories on 20 February 2019, along with Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry. They have joined a newly formed group of independent MPs created by seven MPs who resigned from the Labour Party on 18 February.

Wollaston’s decision to resign the Conservative Party whip and to join the Independent Group does not affect her position as chair of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.

“Select committee chairs are elected by the whole House of Commons—they are not appointed,” Wollaston told The BMJ. “I will remain as chair unless the committee decides that it no longer has confidence in me.”

Wollaston said that her resignation from the Conservative Party would not change the way she chairs the health committee. “Select committee chairs are …