Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan censured for breaking rules to send pro-Remain propaganda before election

A Labour frontbencher has been told she should repay more than £1,140 after an inquiry found she used prepaid Commons stationery to send out pro-Remainer political material before December’s general election

The Commons Standards Committee found that shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan sent out 1,624 copies of her ‘Brexit Update’ letter on House of Commons headed notepaper in prepaid Commons envelopes in the run-up to last year’s general election.

Under the Commons rules, MPs can only use House stationery for their work as a Member of Parliament and are banned from using it for campaign material.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, found that Dr Allin-Khan’s mailshot used ‘public resources to highlight to a group of voters her position and record on an issue that was one of the key themes of the imminent election’.

Tooting MP Dr Allin-Khan, who is also an NHS medic, has been ordered to repay the cost of the mailshot and apologise in the Commons. 

In her report to the committee, Ms Stone noted that it was the third time in three years that Dr Allin-Khan had breached the rules. 

They included a previous occasion when she sent out party-political literature on stationery with the royal badge of the crowned portcullis.

Dr Khan took over in the safe Labour seat of Tooting from Sadiq Khan when he ran to be mayor of London in 2016.

She was a prominent supporter of the People’s Vote campaign which attempted to secure  a second Brexit referendum.

She also ran to become Labour’s deputy leader earlier this year.

In the mailshot she wrote: ‘As someone who has contacted me about Brexit in the past, I wanted to ensure that you are up-to-date on how I have been fighting Brexit in Parliament…

‘Since I was first elected in 2016, just a week before the referendum, I have done my best to represent the interests of Tooting. I voted against triggering Article 50, voted against every proposed Brexit deal because they would have been damaging for our country, and I have been a vocal supporter of a People’s Vote.

‘I would however, like to reassure you that I am committed to remaining and, if I am re-elected, I will campaign to Remain in all circumstances and keep using my vote in Parliament to represent the best interests of our community at every stage.’

Dr Allin-Khan held the seat at the election with a majority of 14,307, down from 15,458 in 2017.   

The committee recommended she should repay the £1,142.52 cost of the mailshot and should make a personal statement in the House apologising for the breach.

It said she should also agree steps to prevent further breaches and that her progress should be reviewed after three and six months.

‘Given her previous breach and subsequent assurances, and the fact that the letter was sent at a period of heightened political sensitivity, we would expect Dr Allin-Khan to have reflected more carefully, or indeed sought advice, on the content of her mailing before sending it,’ the committee said.

‘We would regard any further breach of the Code of Conduct by Dr Allin-Khan which evidenced a lack of proper attention to the rules as a matter which might call for a more serious sanction.’

Dr Allin-Khan told the committee that ‘although she was acting in good faith when sending her letter of 2 November 2019, she accepted that her letter had breached the House’s stationery rules and offered to repay to the public purse the cost of the mailing’.