The prime minister has criticised Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, for failing to properly represent her constituents.

In an interview with LBC, Rishi Sunak said that MPs should be "engaging with you [and] representing you, whether that's speaking in Parliament or being present in their constituencies doing surgeries, answering your letters.

"That's the job of an MP and all MPs should be held to that standard."

When asked if that meant that Ms Dorries is failing her constituents in Mid Beds, the PM responded: "Well, at the moment, people aren't being properly represented."

Ms Dorries announced in June that she would be resigning "with immediate effect", thus triggering a by-election.

However, she has since said that she will not be resigning until she is given more information about why she did not receive a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours.

Festus Akinbusoye, the Conservative candidate for Mid Beds, has previously said to the BBC: “People in Mid Bedfordshire just want to have a member of parliament who is going to be absolutely focused, who is going to be visible, who is going to listen to them [and] who is going to make their priorities his or her priorities.”

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Meanwhile, Alistair Strathern, Labour's candidate for the constituency, has said: "People in Mid Beds are sick of being taken for granted - they deserve a local, hard-working MP who will put them first."

The PM is not the first person in recent days to criticise Ms Dorries. Flitwick Town Council, in her constituency, wrote to the MP to ask her to stand down "immediately".

Ms Dorries has said on Twitter that her office "continues to function as normal" and that she "will of course continue to serve my constituents of Mid Bedfordshire".

She has been contacted for comment on this story.