Sunak faces yet another by-election headache

RISHI Sunak looks set to face another by-election test after an MP lost an appeal against a 35-day suspension from Parliament for breaking lobbying rules.

Scott Benton was caught on camera offering to lobby ministers and table parliamentary questions on behalf of fake gambling investors in a newspaper sting last year.

MPs on the Commons standards committee ruled that he had committed a ‘very serious breach’ of the rules, and recommended he be suspended for 35 days.

Mr Benton, MP for Blackpool South, appealed against both the finding and the suspension, but in a report published yesterday an independent panel upheld the committee’s original decision.

Mr Benton said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ with the outcome, describing the findings as ‘unjust’.

He added: ‘The entire process has been prone to regular leaks at every stage, with journalists knowing the details throughout. This lack of integrity throughout the process has formed an inescapable appearance of bias.’

MPs will now vote on whether to implement the recommended suspension which, if supported, would trigger a recall petition and a potential by-election in his seat.

If 10 per cent of Mr Benton’s constituents sign the petition a by-election will take place, meaning the poll is unlikely to occur until the end of April or the beginning of May.

The Conservatives won Blackpool South in 2019 with a majority of just 3,690, raising the prospect of another difficult by-election for the Prime Minister after losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood last week.