CONDUCT OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MEMBER FOR ASHTON-UNDER-LYME

That this House endorses the Seventeenth Report of the Standards and Privileges Committee, published on 25th October, which upholds the complaint against the Right honourable Member for Ashton-under-Lyme, that he failed to declare relevant business interests during various debates in the House on economic matters between 1993 and 1999; notes that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards' judgement that, 'given the nature of Mr Sheldon's business interests, it would have been advisable for him to make a declaration in all of the 12 debates cited by Mr Bruce in his complaint. But this was particularly so in the case of the eight debates listed in paragraph 50 (of the Report) given Mr Sheldon's remarks in those debates'; and calls upon the Right honourable Member to resign forthwith, as his position is untenable as Chairman of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, where he is called upon to exercise judgement on similar allegations made against other Members of this House.