Laura Pidcock has been ordered to return nearly £4,000 to the British taxpayer after being found guilty of abusing parliamentary expenses for party political ends just weeks before the 2019 General Election. Not even cheating could save her rock-solid safe Labour seat…

An investigation by Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards has found Pidcock sent thousands of elderly – Conservative-minded – constituents letters around changes to rules for over 75’s TV licenses, however “alterations made by Ms Pidcock to a letter template, provided by the Parliamentary Research Service (PRS), resulted in her mailing becoming party-political in tone and content, and no longer neutral or objective.” The investigation was still ongoing while she was running Richard Burgon’s doomed deputy leadership bid…

The investigation was sparked after a number of Pidcock’s former constituents received the election literature – disguised as official MP communication – and approached the Parliamentary Standard’s office to complain. Constituents stated her misuse of taxpayer resources brought Parliament into “disrepute” and the letters sent out by Pidcock had “an intent to confer an undue political advantage on herself and the Labour Party”…

The Commissioner claims Pidcock has accepted and apologised for her breach of the rules, and promised to pay back £3,835.32. Not the best start to her attempt to win back North West Durham voters for her MP rerun attempt in 2024…

Read the Commissioner’s report in full below: