Interesting. Extracts:
A prominent Labour MP has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money after she used prepaid Commons envelopes and headed notepaper to bombard constituents with election propaganda.
Jess Phillips boasted of the service she had given to local people and announced she would be standing again as MP for Birmingham Yardley in a mailing blitz just days after the Theresa May called the snap poll.
One constituent received two letters from Mrs Phillips in two days setting out her positions on both the NHS and social care, despite never contacting the MP…
Mrs Phillips, who is defending a majority of 6,595, was last night reported to parliamentary authorities over concerns she may have broken Commons rules that forbid the use of stationery for political purposes…
Former Lib Dem MP John Hemming, who is hoping to win back the seat after being defeated by Mrs Phillips at the last election, has reported her to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
However, the issue is unlikely to be resolved before the election as once Parliament dissolves on Wednesday the Commissioner will be unable to begin any fresh inquiries or to resolve any that are in hand…
Last night Mrs Phillips said: ‘I keep in touch with my constituents every week, last week was no exception.
‘The letters will have been sent because the constituent wrote to us on that specific subject. In this case the NHS and/or social care.
‘They may not think they have written to us because they don’t realise that when they click an online petition it sends us an automatic email in their name.
‘We are simply responding to them.’
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