Statement from Dr Roy Bailey,

Chair, Bracknell Constituency Labour Party

Local Tory MP, James Sunderland, treating voters with contempt by letting disgraced MP off the hook

Bracknell Forest Tory MP, James Sunderland, has today been condemned for ‘treating voters with contempt’ after he voted to support a back room deal which will see disgraced former minister Owen Paterson avoid sanction after he was found to have broken Commons rules.

The Commission found: “no previous case of paid advocacy has seen so many breaches or such a clear pattern of behaviour failing to separate private/public interests.”

Bracknell Forest Constituency Labour Party Chair, Dr Roy Bailey, said,

“Conservative sleaze is back – and it’s worse than ever. Conservative MPs – including James Sunderland have today voted to change the rules to let their friend off the hook, even though a Commons inquiry had recommended serious sanctions. It’s one rule for them, another for everyone else.

“Owen Paterson was caught red-handed, and the judgement was crystal clear. He broke the rules for businesses that paid him more than £100,000. Yet James Sunderland wants you to believe there is nothing to see here.”

“If it’s not £3.5bn in crony covid contracts for their mates it’s changing the rules to let their friends get away with wrong doing. The Conservative Party think they can get away with anything and they’re treating voters with contempt.”

I hope all fair minded people in the Bracknell Forest area will agree that this behaviour is reprehensible. James Sunderland should be told in no uncertain terms just how they feel.Tory