Green MP Caroline Lucas broke Commons rules by charging £150 a head for 30-minute personal guided tours of Parliament, standards watchdog rules
- Caroline Lucas has apologised for her actions following an investigation
- She offered the tours through a crowdfunding site to raise money last year
- Parliamentary tours cost £26.50 per adult, but are free for UK citizens
Green MP Caroline Lucas broke House of Commons rules when she charged £150 for a tour of parliament, an investigation has revealed.
The party’s only MP, who represents Brighton Pavilion, placed the 30-minute ‘personal guided tour’ on a crowdfunding site to raise money during her general election campaign.
Tours of parliament cost £26.50 for adults, but British citizens can arrange one free of charge.
Caroline Lucas offered the tours as a crowdfunding initiative to raise money in the election
The parliamentary commissioner found that it was ‘inappropriate’ for an MP to ‘tout for donations’ using the House of Commons.
They also said it could give her an ‘unfair advantage’ over other electoral candidates.
The code of conduct for MPs clearly states that they must not offer tours of parliament in raffles or auctions.
It adds that use of publicly funded resources should ‘not confer any undue personal or financial benefit on themselves or anyone else, or confer undue advantage on a political organisation.’
Ms Lucas initially argued that she could offer the tour as it was about ‘someone accessing my time and experience’.
However, she has accepted the outcome of the investigation and apologised for the breach of standards.
The House of Commons pictured above on March 18, when many members stayed away due to coronavirus fears
‘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,’ she said.
‘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”.’
The Green Party said it had returned the money to the supporter who made the donation.