Rishi Sunak faces prospect of by-election as MP Scott Benton recommended for 35-day suspension
Rishi Sunak is facing another by-election after the Commons standards committee recommended MP Scott Benton be suspended from the chamber for 35 days.
Mr Benton was suspended from the parliamentary Tory party in April after being caught by The Times suggesting he would be willing to break lobbying rules for money.
In its ruling handed down this morning, the committee said “by repeatedly indicating his willingness to disregard the House’s rules, and by giving the impression that many Members of the House had in the past and will in the future engage in such misconduct, Mr Benton committed a very serious breach” of the rules.
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A suspension of more than 10 days – if passed by a vote in the Commons – means that a recall petition is triggered.
This means Mr Benton’s constituents can decide whether they want to hold a by-election.
He was elected as the Tory MP for Blackpool South in 2019, and has a majority of just 3,690. It had been a Labour seat since 1997 – but was Conservative before that.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have both overturned five-figure majorities in recent by-elections.
The committee highlighted aggravating factors in their decision about Mr Benton – including him providing an “incomplete and incorrect picture of what had transpired”.
They also noted that it was a “repeat offence, or indication that the offence was part of a pattern of behaviour”.
‘Toxic message about standards in parliament’
“Mr Benton’s comments about his past willingness to collude with companies in making false valuations of hospitality suggest that this could have been a pattern of conduct on his part,” they added.
Read more: Jon Craig: Why by-elections are rarely boring
The committee categorised what the former Tory MP did as an “extremely serious breach”.
The report added: “The message he gave to his interlocutors at the 7 March meeting was that he was corrupt and ‘for sale’, and that so were many other members of the House. He communicated a toxic message about standards in parliament.”
The 35-day suspension is one of the longest ever recommended by the committee – although Boris Johnson would have been recommended for a 90-day period if he had not resigned from the Commons first for misleading parliament over the Partygate scandal.
Mr Benton met undercover reporters from The Times who were posing as employees of a fake lobbying company.
The chair of the all-party parliamentary group for betting and gaming suggested he would be happy to be paid between £2,000 and £4,000 a month to help the fake company – complete with a logo, website and office addresses in London and Chennai in India.
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There are strict rules that prevent MPs from carrying out paid lobbying or advising how to influence parliament.
Mr Benton ultimately did not accept any financial payment arising from the meeting.
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Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman
Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.
Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.
MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.
But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.
He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.
Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.
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“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.
“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.
“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.
“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”
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Review into assisted dying costs
Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.
She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.
“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.
Read more on this story:
‘Fix care before assisted dying legislation’
Why assisted dying is controversial – and where it’s already legal
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.
The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.
Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is said to support the bill. Pic: Reuters
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has concerns. Pic: Reuters
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.
Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.
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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater discusses End of Life Bill
The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.
MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.
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