Election latest: Labour to ‘simplify’ transitioning process; betting scandal hangs over Tories | Politics News
PM should suspend Tory candidates accused of election betting, says former minister
A former minister has called for Rishi Sunak to suspend the Conservative candidates accused of placing bets on the date of the election.
Speaking to the BBC, Tobias Ellwood – who is standing as a Tory candidate – said the issue was distracting from other topics in the election and would “no doubt” cost the party seats.
He said trust in politics had been a major issue in recent years, and the scandal was adding to the problem.
Mr Ellwood said the public “wants to see clear, robust action”.
Asked if the two implicated parliamentary candidates should be suspended, Mr Ellwood said that due to the “scale” of the scandal and the potential for it to distract from the campaign, he would agree.
He joins Sir Robert Buckland, the former justice secretary, in making the call for people to be suspended.
But he added that there needed to be a distinction between whether the alleged incidents were reacting to rumours, or whether they did have insider knowledge.
In order to prevent more scandals, he called for any current politician or party employee to be banned from placing bets in the future.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said it was right to wait for the outcome of the Gambling Commission investigation before taking action.
He insisted it was the correct course of action to take, even when a Conservative candidate had admitted to betting on the timing of a vote being called.
“The Gambling Commission are looking into that, and we will act on what the Gambling Commission say,” he said.
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