Theresa May should not be allowed to create any new peers until GE2015 expenses fraud allegations have been resolved
CON whistleblowers accuse party of 'huge betrayal' of electorate over GE2015 expenses. Latest from @MichaelLCrick https://t.co/ItYi8ezm5H
— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 9, 2017
There’s lots of talk that Theresa May is planning to create a big batch of new CON peers to deal with the problems her government is having with the upper house.
But let us not forget that the formal investigations by the police and the Electoral Commission are still going into the election expenses in key marginals and we do not know whether the narrow Tory majority on a national vote share of 36.9% in May 2015 was secured legitimately within expenses limits.
Judging by the pace of recent reports it looks as though things are coming to a head and in the circumstances it would be wrong for Mrs. May to be allowed to create a significant number of new peers.
The allegations started with a series of Channel 4 reports by Michael Crick nearly a year ago. His latest report which was screened last night is linked to above.
I’d suggest that it is constitutionally not right to create a significant number of new Tory peers until we know what is happening. After all such a move would alter the balance in the upper house in favour of the Tories and question marks still hang over the party’s 2015 campaign.