However, his exit from Parliament has also sparked criticism because the seat is being abolished at the next general election, meaning whoever wins it will only hold it for a matter of months.
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, said that his party would not be taking part in the by-election because of the cost which would fall upon the local authority.
In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday, he said: “This is a scandal of selfishness, of hypocrisy, and of grotesque abuse of taxpayers’ cash.”
He went on: “He’s forcing the local authority to spend about £250,000 of hard-pressed council taxpayers’ cash to hold that by-election.”
Mr Tice said that while Mr Skidmore “claims to be concerned about the environment,” holding a by-election would “consume about a million pages of paper from trees.”
He added: “We’ve made the decision we will not take part in this abusive, scandalous by-election that is a total waste of taxpayers’ cash. So, Reform UK will not be standing in Mr Skidmore’s constituency that’s being abolished. We think it’s disgraceful and we suggest that others adopt the same attitude.”
In response to Mr Skidmore’s resignation statement, Karl McCartney, the Tory MP for Lincoln, tweeted: “A now ‘former colleague,’ who was gifted various positions, ahead of many better, well-qualified, and collegiate colleagues, dumps on all from a great height.
“Once more, another non-Conservative handpicked as part of [David] Cameron’s A List. Same people at CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters] keep making the same mistakes.”
The Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker meanwhile reposted a tweet that said: “Resign the whip, fine. But imposing another by-election this close to the general just feels gratuitous.”
Net Zero interests
Mr Skidmore signed the 2050 Net Zero target into law when he was energy minister in 2019, and as a backbencher carried out a review of Net Zero for Mr Sunak, which was published last year.
He had already announced he would not fight the general election, telling The Telegraph in November 2022 that he wanted to “focus on Net Zero beyond being in the House of Commons.”
According to Mr Skidmore’s parliamentary register of interests, he has been an adviser to the Emissions Capture Company since January 3, 2023, receiving £80,000 a year.
He has also worked for Global Insight Exchange since March 1, 2023, again receiving £80,000 a year.
As a non-executive director of the Oxford International Education Group since May 16, 2022, he has received £40,000 a year.
He is also the sole director of Bosworth Ltd, providing “research and advisory services.”
Mr Skidmore was contacted for comment.
On Saturday morning, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that he was “very sad to lose a respected colleague like Chris Skidmore” but that he “profoundly” disagreed with his reasons for resigning.
Asked by the BBC whether Mr Skidmore was a “rat leaving a sinking ship,” Mr Hunt said: “No, I think he is just wrong on that issue… he’s wrong on North Sea oil and gas.”
