Ministers exodus grows as Blears quits on eve of election

Blears had come under fire for allegedly avoiding capital gains tax when she sold one of her properties. Although she paid back £13,000 the Prime Minister called her actions "totally unacceptable", while defending other ministers accused of similar actions.

In response Theresa May, the Conservative Shadow Work and pensions Secretary said the resignation appeared to be a "calculate attempt to destabilise the prime minister," reports the BBC.

"Frankly, the game is up for Gordon Brown. We are seeing the dying days of this Labour government."

In her resignation statement Hazel Blears said, "Today I have told the prime minister that I am resigning from the government."

"My politics has always been rooted in the belief that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, given the right support and encouragement."

"The role of a progressive government should be to pass power to the people. I've never sought high office for the sake of it, or for what I can gain, but for what I can achieve for the people I represent and serve."

She continued, "In this next phase of my political life I am redoubling my efforts to speak up for the people of Salford as their Member of Parliament. I am returning to the grassroots (where I began), to political activism, to the cut and thrust of political debate."

"Most of all I want to help the Labour Party to reconnect with the British people, to remind them that our values are their values, that their hopes and dreams are ours too."

Ms Blears is believed to have riled the Prime Minister when she complained that the government was not getting its message across by saying "Youtube if you want to," in an apparent reference to Mr Brown's poorly received Youtube policy announcement on MPs expenses.