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A senior figure for the Conservatives in Wales has lost her job as a spokesperson for the party, after a set of leaked WhatsApp messages allegedly revealed her plot to inflate the true value of her mileage expenses.
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Laura Anne Jones is also facing a legal investigation, after she was accused of repeatedly asking staff members to ‘add on more than she did’ when it came to reclaiming petrol money via expense forms.
According to the texts, she was on board with suggestions to lie about visiting her constituency office.
It’s also reported that she prompted her team to ‘make more claims than she actually did’, inarticulately encouraging them to falsify her travel records. One staff member even asks if she wants to fill in claims from days where Jones was off sick.
“When doing the petrol thing, always make more than I did… Visits to the constituency office, stuff like that… If you could always do more stuff than it says, that would be fab.” | Laura Ann Jones
No comment has been made by the Welsh Tories, but their cross-bench rivals have been left apoplectic. Labour’s Jo Stevens is demanding an ‘immediate and full suspension’, and Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds has also turned the screw:
“At a time when trust in politics is at an all-time low, the allegations facing MS Jones are extremely serious, [Senedd Tory leader] Andrew RT Davies must suspend the whip while an investigation takes place.”
“A failure to do so would only reinforce the idea that the Welsh Conservatives do not take these sorts of investigations seriously, especially given their weak leadership on previous occasions.” | Jane Dodds
