Abbott:Blocked for membership?

Abbott to Lose Place on Treasury Select Committee

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington is expected to be dropped after eight years of service when the committee's membership is announced on Monday night. Ms Abbot said her criticism of new Labour policies, including Chancellor Gordon Brown's recent decision to give independence to the Bank of England, could have cost her place. "I was the only person who was already on the select committee who wanted to continue who wasn't allowed to continue. I think the main reason was that they thought I was too independent minded," she said. Ms Abbott said she had a good record of attendance and performance on the committee.

But her name will not be among the seven Labour MPs selected for the committee tonight, who, apart from Giles Radice (Durham N) and Brian Sedgemore (Hackney S and Shoreditch), have little or no experience of how the Treasury committee works."To drop somebody from a select committee because they disagree with Government policy makes a nonsense of the idea of independent select committees," Ms Abbott said.

Ms Abbott would not be drawn on this issue, but said "I just felt, as a point of principle, that members of select committees should make up their minds about policies on their merit, otherwise you might as well not have the select committee system." She also refused to be drawn on who was behind her removal from the committee.

New members will include Ruth Kelly, who worked for the Bank of England before becoming MP for Bolton West, and Putney MP Tony Coleman - one of new Labour's millionaires.