The House of Commons has entered its scheduled recess and will return on November 15, despite calls from The Liberal Democrats for the break to be cancelled.
The Herald reports that The Liberal Democrats had written a letter to Commons leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, calling for the recess to be shelved, which would have enabled prime minister Boris Johnson to face Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
The calls for the prime minister to be held to account came after the Conservative Party was accused of abusing the honours system by systematically offering seats in the House of Lords to wealthy donors.
A joint investigation carried out by The Sunday Times and Open Democracy uncovered that wealthy Tory benefactors tend to receive peerages if they take on the temporary role of party treasurer and increase their donations to the party beyond £3 million.
The investigation found that all 16 of the party’s main treasurers over the last two decades, excluding the most recent, have been offered a peerage.
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain, the MP for the Scottish constituency of North East Fife, has labelled it “unacceptable” that the PM should not face questions over the row.
Ahead of the recess, Chamberlain had said: “Boris Johnson must not run and hide from this sleaze scandal. The Conservatives are hoping that they will be saved by the bell, so they don’t have to answer questions on these allegations. It is utterly unacceptable.
“Any upstanding prime minister would show leadership and cancel Parliament’s recess. Boris Johnson’s attempts to avoid accountability tell you all you need to know about this prime minister who is taking voters for granted.
“It is vital that Johnson faces Prime Minister’s Questions. He must not be allowed to get off scot-free. It’s time for him to finally come out of hiding and answer questions from MPs about the sleaze scandal.”
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