Labour says Johnson should repay £245,000 taxpayers’ money spent funding his legal support during privileges inquiry
The Guardian says Labour says Rishi Sunak must give MPs the chance to approve the privileges committee report. The shadow leader of the Commons, Thangam Debbonaire, has issued this statement.
The evidence in this report is damning and the conclusions the committee came to are clear. Boris Johnson is a lawbreaker and a liar. Rishi Sunak must now confirm the government will follow precedent and give the House the opportunity to approve the report and endorse the sanctions in full.
“Rishi Sunak’s weakness means he has never stood up to Boris Johnson. This report makes it even more inconceivable that the Prime Minister approved Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list just a week ago, as part of some sort of grubby deal rather than waiting for this report and saying ‘no’ to his former boss.”
Sunak has already indicated that MPs will get a vote. (See 8.13am.) We should get confirmation when we get the statement on next week’s business in the Commons, in the next few minutes.
Debbonaire said Johnson should also be asked to repay the £245,000 of taxpayers’s money spent funding his legal support during the inquiry. She said:
“Rishi Sunak is so out of touch he thought it was right that taxpayers’ hard-earned money fund Boris Johnson’s ongoing lies to the public. Given the findings of the committee, Rishi Sunak should demand Boris Johnson pays back every penny.”