The chair of the Labour Party has said she has called for the police to look into the case of Mark Menzies due to concerns around the Fraud Act and the PPER Act and questioned why the MP had to effectively sack himself.
Anneliese Dodds also said the delay by the House of Lords over the Rwanda scheme was due to concerns about Afghan interpreters, saying we owe a duty to those who worked with UK Armed Forces during military action and describing the government's plan as 'unworkable' and 'extortionately expensive.'
Speaking on GB News, Dodds said: "These are really bizarre and troubling allegations that have resurfaced today after the Conservative Party apparently was informed about them, right back in January.
“And actually this is a pattern of behaviour, it seems, for the Conservative Party.
“We have now the second Conservative MP in two weeks who has sacked himself because the Conservative Party hasn't taken action. We have a by-election on now in Blackpool because a Conservative MP effectively accepted cash for questions. And that's even without mentioning the cases of Nadhim Zahawi, Suella Braverman and Dominic Raab.
“It just seems unfortunately that Rishi Sunak is too weak to be acting when there are major problems in his party.
“This is a government that definitely has run out of steam, that seems unable, ultimately, to manage itself. And in Rishi Sunak, we have a Prime Minister who seems constantly distracted by managing his party, rather than turning outwards and thinking, what does the country need right now? Especially with the huge cost of living process so many are facing and our public services, frankly, on their knees.
“We have set out the fact that we have concerns around the Fraud Act also PPERA which covers political parties referendums, elections, and so forth that those in politics are well aware of because it covers campaign spending.
“And I think there are questions, particularly for the Conservative Party about why they seem to have known about this situation since right back in January.
“It’s very unclear whether they took any action around it until now, when the action being taken now seems purely to be in response, frankly, to a newspaper article rather than to those issues that took place themselves.
“Certainly we wouldn't know which party will be in government until the next general election and we're working very hard to make sure that we're out up and down the country, speaking with people about their concerns.
“And one thing’s very clear that people understand Keir Starmer is about the long term. He's not interested in short term fixes, sticking plasters; he's about the long term, the long-term missions that he's set out to get Britain building again for example, to take our streets back from criminals and gangs.
“And that is very different to the kind of politics that we've had over the last few years. So of course, we want to be talking with people about that. We need to get that message across as Labour politicians but we're looking forward to having that discussion with people up and down the country in the months to come.
“We need a proper plan in relation to the crossing of boats over the channel, a proper serious plan. That's what Yvette Cooper has set out with the measures that she would be taking to get that backlog down, to make sure also that we have a returns unit that's actually working to smash the criminal gangs that the government is doing next thing about.
“The Rwanda scheme is not a serious plan. It's unworkable, and it's extortionately expensive. It would actually cost less to take every single one of the people the government thinks to be covered by that Rwanda scheme, send them all the way to France and then put them up in the Ritz for four years.
“That would cost less than their Rwanda scheme.
“Actually what happened last night was you saw former military staff, time after time, saying to the government that they should not be enabling, for example, former Afghan interpreters for our armed forces to be covered by this scheme. And the government refuses to listen to them.
“They should have listened to them because frankly, we owe a duty to those brave interpreters who helped protect our armed forces, but the Conservatives are not listening to them at the moment."
WATCH ABOVE.
