Reform MS Laura Anne Jones suspended from Senedd over racial slur
Reform’s only member of the Welsh Parliament has been banned from entering the Senedd chamber for 14 days after using a weapon. racist insult To describe the Chinese.
Laura Anne Jones has apologized for breaching parliament’s code of conduct, including offensive comments made in a WhatsApp chat in August 2023.
In an emotional statement published in the Senedd, he said the investigations by the police and the Senedd standards commissioner, which cleared him of making fraudulent claims, had had an extremely detrimental impact on his mental health.
The restraining order imposed by members of the Senedd prevents him from attending hearings for two weeks and cuts his salary.
Senedd standards commissioner Douglas Bain found Jones both made offensive comments on WhatsApp and failed to take action after one of his employees made separate offensive comments on the same messaging service.
On Wednesday evening, the chair of the standards committee, Labour’s Hannah Blythyn, told the Senedd: “The committee considers it a serious matter for any member of the Senedd to breach its code of conduct and we are clear that inappropriate and offensive comments have no place in our Senedd or society.
“More broadly, the behavior found in the commissioner’s report fell well below expected standards and points to an office culture where there was little respect for others or any consideration of what might be found offensive.”
Jones apologized for the WhatsApp conversations but said he has been facing expense allegations for nearly two years, which he has been cleared of.
“These have had a negative impact on my family, particularly my children, as well as an extremely detrimental impact on my own health and mental health,” he said.
He said the allegations “took a significant toll on me, leading me to try to drown out the noise and nearly take my own life on several occasions.”
“I hasten to say, what I had to experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” he added.
Jones will be able to take his seat in the Senedd once again as of Wednesday, December 3.
Jones represents South Wales East in the Welsh parliament and was a Conservative member at the time the allegations emerged before joining Reform in July, giving the party a seat in Cardiff Bay for the first time.
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