The PRCA has responded to a Privileges and Conduct Committee report recommending the suspension of Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate and Lord Laird for four and six months respectively.
The report was conducted by the Committee following investigations by the independent House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, surrounding allegations made in The Sunday Times and through the BBC’s Panorama programme. Full copies of the investigation of Lord Laird and Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate can be found on the Parliament website.
Lord Cunningham of Felling and Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan were cleared of breaching the Code amid related allegations.
PRCA Director General Francis Ingham commented: “It is absolutely right that Laird and Mackenzie be suspended from the House for what they have done. They have shown a complete disregard for the rules, a willingness to manipulate the system for personal gain and treated democracy with utter disdain.”
Ingham continued by questioning whether the matter had been correctly labeled a ‘lobbying scandal’: "Yet again, however, this is a ‘lobbying scandal’ that does not involve a single lobbyist. Guilty peers more interested in money than public service? Certainly. Media outlets investigating the potential for corruption? Yes. But not a single lobbyist.”