Green MP apologises for ‘inadvertent’ rule breach during general election campaign

Caroline Lucas offered a 30-minute personal guided tour of the House of Commons in exchange for a £150 donation to her campaign in the run up to last year’s general election.

The offer was part of a number of rewards available on an online crowdfunding page.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards conducted an investigation and found this breached the Code of Conduct for Members.

In response Ms Lucas has apologised, while the Green Party refunding the particular donation.

Ms Lucas said: “I have today written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to accept the outcome of her investigation and apologise for an inadvertent breach of the Code of Conduct.

“In order to raise funds for my local party in the recent general election campaign, I made an offer on a crowdfunding site of a personal tour of those areas of Parliament which are special to me. When I did so, I did not believe I was breaking parliamentary rules, which I had interpreted to mean that what was prohibited was offering something that was otherwise ‘freely available’. I did not believe such a personal tour was ‘freely available’.

“However, the commissioner has ruled that this was a breach of the Code of Conduct and I accept her decision.

“I would like to apologise for this completely unintentional breach of the rules. The Green Party has returned the money to the supporter who made the donation.”

In a letter to Ms Lucas the standards commissioner said: “You have given an assurance that this is the only occasion on which you have offered such a prize as part of a raffle or an auction and that, contrary to some media reports, the offer on the fund-raising website was for just one tour.

“While the principle is important and the tour should not have been offered in return for a donation, I consider this breach of the rules to be at the less serious end of the spectrum. I have decided this matter could be concluded through the rectification procedure.”

Ms Lucas was re-elected to Parliament in December with a nearly 20,000 vote majority.