Sheffield MP Jared O’Mara will now resign following allegations of sexual harassment, including one text to staff reading ‘people should call women c***s more often’.

The independent MP for Sheffield and Hallam confirmed on Saturday that he would step down from Parliament when it returns after summer recess on September 3.

His resignation comes after allegations were made in The Times that Mr O’Mara sexually harassed a 20-year-old staffer, calling the woman a ‘delicate little flower’ who was ‘effortlessly pretty’.

In other messages the MP is said to have told Jennifer Barnes he would die for her ‘coz ur an angel’ adding he was ‘excited about what we could do together’.

In WhatsApp messages allegedly sent to staff, Mr O’Mara said women should be called ‘c***s more often’ and added ‘I’ll have to nickname myself ‘Thrush’ because I irritate c***s’.

After the allegations were made public, the Sheffield and Hallam MP said he would be resigning as soon as possible.

Mr O’Mara said on Saturday: ‘Please let everyone be assured that I will be tendering my resignation via the official Parliamentary process as soon as term restarts.

‘I am not in any fit state to continue and nor would that be appropriate if I was. I reiterate my apology to my constituents, the people of Sheffield and the people of the UK as whole.’

Mr O’Mara has stood in the Sheffield seat as an independent after he was suspended by the Labour Party in 2018 when a series of homophobic, racist and sexist remarks he was said to have made resurfaced.

Earlier this week he announced he would be taking time out from his duties to focus on his mental health, following the dramatic resignation of his chief of staff on his Twitter account, who called his former employer a ‘selfish, degenerate prick’.

In a statement published prior to the publication of The Times’ story, Mr O’Mara said his mental health had deteriorated due to ‘gaslighting’ from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, resulting in him suffering delusions.

He said: ‘About two weeks ago I told a staff member I was in love with her during the aforementioned delusional episode.

‘I’d been paranoid for weeks that if I was mad like Jeremy and his team said I was then I’d do something like that.

‘The messages I said that were not of a sober or rational mind and felt like an out of body experience when I sent them but I know that does not excuse my actions because I should not have been self-medicating with a drink to get into that state.’

Speaking to The Times, Mr O’Mara accepted that he sent the messages but claimed many were jokes.

He added he was not attracted to Ms Barnes and insisted the messages were not sexual.

Chief of staff Gareth Arnold, who has reportedly resumed the position until a new MP takes the seat, confirmed there would be a by-election and a new MP in the seat before the end of the year.

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