Rob Marris misused Parliamentary funds to campaign!

2.46.59pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 26th Jul 2005

It has come to light that my Labour opposition from the General Election, and MP, Rob Marris used of Parliamentary funds to campaign in the General Election.Rob sent out a campaigning letter on House of Commons letter headings using House of Commons envelopes, postage and secretarial services.

The Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons has now forced Rob to pay back the full amount of these costs. I am shocked that Rob effectively tried to have the taxpayers pay for some of his electioneering - this is tantamount to cheating and put the other candidates at a disadvantage.

There really can be no excuse for this, there are rules that explain what MP's can use Parliamentary funds for - campaigning is certainly not one of the. Having worked for three MP's I know how clear these rules are and can only conclude that Rob must have intentionally misused Parliamentary funds to give him an advantage in the election. However Rob's wrong-doings did not help him much his share of the vote declined by almost 4%!