Parliamentary commissioner: Paul Burstow guilty of "breach of rules"
Friday, July 11 2008
"A poor example to set," says Reigate MP
The Parliamentary Commissioner John Lyon has concluded his investigation following a complaint from Crispin Blunt MP that Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, had misused his parliamentary allowances.
The complaint was made when it came to Mr Blunt’s attention that Paul Burstow had been sending new constituents unsolicited mail which included a party political attack on the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Philippa Stroud. In his reply to Mr Blunt the Commissioner concluded that Mr Burstow had breached the rules:
"I have concluded, therefore, that Mr Burstow has breached the rules of the House in using House of Commons pre-paid envelopes and stationery from his provided allowance for communicating to new constituents who had not previously contacted him and for including in the communication a newsletter which could not be funded from Parliamentary allowances. He has told me that he very much regrets this error and he has taken steps to put the matters straight and to refund the expenditure incurred."
The Commissioner went on to say that in the light of Mr Burstow’s apology he regarded the matter as closed.
Crispin Blunt responded that he was satisfied at the result and was now happy to let the matter rest. Speaking in his constituency this morning Mr Blunt said, "I am glad that Paul Burstow has come clean and reimbursed the taxpayer for this abuse of his parliamentary allowances. At a time when the public are deeply sceptical about how MPs use taxpayers' money to do work on behalf of their constituents it is to be regretted that the Liberal Democrats' own Chief Whip was deliberately misusing the system to gain an unfair political advantage over his opponent at the next election at taxpayers' expense.
"I believe this practice directly undermines democracy by the incumbent politician unfairly entrenching this position. This must stop it strikes straight at the heart of an open and fair democratic process."
