Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Labour MP broke parliamentary rules by using House of Commons stationery for political campaigning on Brexit, a watchdog has found.
The parliamentary standards commissioner said Dr Rosina Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting, had broken the rules three times in three years.
She has been told to apologise and reimburse the full £1,142.52 cost of the stationery.
Under Commons rules MPs are only allowed to use official Commons letterheads for their business as an MP, with a strict ban on using official parliamentary resources for campaigning.
But the Commissioner found that a batch of 1,624 letters about Brexit to constituents sent on 2 November 2019 just before the general election amounted to political campaigning.
The watchdog said the incident saw the MP using "public resources to highlight to a group of voters her position and record on an issue that was one of the key themes of the imminent election".
The communication "contained an important personal campaign message, which...had the effect of seeking to support Dr Allin-Khan's return to office".
Given the incident was the third breach of rules, the committee said "any further breach of the Code of Conduct by Dr Allin-Khan, where there is evidence of a lack of attention to the rules of the House, might call for a more serious sanction".
A spokesperson for the MP said she "fully accepts the committee's recommendations", already offered to reimburse the costs of the stationery, had apologised, had taken steps to "ensure this does not happen again".
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments