LONDON -- Britain's wealthiest man, the duke of Westminster, Wednesday resigned from the Conservative Party in protest against proposed laws that would strip him of the freehold rights to his British properties.
A spokeswoman for the duke said his decision was a direct result of the proposed legislation that would give an estimated 750,000 leaseholders the right to buy his properties.
The 41-year-old member of the House of Lords, Gerald Grosvenor, owns up to 300 acres of the exclusive inner London districts of Mayfair and Belgravia worth an estimated 3.5 billion pounds ($5 billion).
The spokeswoman said the duke resigned his 20-year presidency of his Chester constituency 'with sadness.'
'He found the policies of the Conservative Party were not consistent with his own and that eventually there would have to be a parting of the ways,' she said.
'It was not a decision he took easily as his family has been associated with the party for many years,' she added.
She said the proposed leasehold reforms contained in the Housing and Urban Development Bill would mean the freehold on the duke's properties, some of which have been in the family for 300 years, would be up for grabs to domestic and foreign investors.
'The leaseholders signed a contract agreeing to the lease and for the government to say this is now meaningless is fundamentally wrong,' she said.
