A member of the Senedd will be suspended for two weeks because of comments that she made in a private WhatsApp group which included a racial slur.
Fellow MSs voted to back the recommendations of the Standards Committee that Laura Anne Jones be suspended without pay for 14 days because she was found to have breached the Senedd’s code of conduct.
Ms Jones is now Reform UK’s only member of the Welsh Parliament but had previously sat as a Conservative member.
In an emotional speech to the Senedd, Ms Jones repeated her apology and said she accepted the findings of the Standards Commissioners report into the allegations against her.
She welcomed the decision to clear her of allegations of expenses fraud but criticised both the length of time the process had taken – two years – and what she called ‘continuous leaks to the press’ which led to a ’significant toll’ on her own mental health and that of her children.
The Senedd’s Standards Committee recommended the suspension following a report by the Standards Commissioner into three allegations.
The Commissioner’s report found that she had breached the code of conduct in two instances, one in which she used a slur about Chinese people in a private Whatsapp group chat in August 2023 and another in which she failed to act against comments made by a staff member in another WhatsApp group.
She was cleared of a third allegation that had fraudulently made false expenses claims. The Commissioner found there had been “no breach of the code of conduct” in relation to that.
Ms Jones has previously apologised for her remarks but the Senedd Standards Committee which recommends disciplinary action, said that her conduct “fell far below the standards expected” of an MS.
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In its report, members of the committee said: “The committee is clear that inappropriate and offensive comments have no place in our Senedd, or society more widely.
“These messages were contained within an office group WhatsApp chat, rather than a public forum. However, the code is clear that it applies to Members at all times.”
Speaking in the Senedd tonight (Wednesday November 19th), Ms Jones became visibly emotional as she detailed the “hugely detrimental impact” on her health and wellbeing as a result of the two year investigation.
She said she accepted the commissioners findings in the report, welcomed the finding of no fraudulent activity, and also apologied for the “regrettable” language used in the messages.
She went on to add, “I have reflected deeply on this and I wholly accept the need to take greater care with my language at all times. I also want to say how harrowing this nearly two year investigation has been.
“I’m not afraid to put on record that this process, and the continuous leaks to the press, particularly trying to frame me for a serious crime stemming from this clearly malicious attempt to discredit me has had a negative impact on my family, especially my children as well as a hugely detrimental impact on my own health and mental health.
“The pressure of being portrayed in such a serious and distressing way, despite the clear findings that it was no wrongdoing, has taken a significant toll on me, which led me to try and try drown out that noise and nearly take my own life a number of times.
“I wouldn’t wish this of what I’ve had to experience on my worst enemy, and I hope for your sakes that this doesn’t happen to any of you.
“So I will now try to turn this awful experience into a positive one, and I’ll be campaigning hard to try and make positive changes to the system to better protect members centred around members being innocent until proven guilty, the foundation of which our country is founded on, getting the support they need and helping to improve the process.
“I will say, it does concern me that the committee, made up of Labour, Plaid and Tory were allowed to add on to the end of factual, thorough, nearly two year investigation with some non facts and speculation, hearsay.
“Arguably this shows that perhaps, as other members have argued, that this part of the process isn’t ideal and could bring into question impartiality, which is perhaps a strong argument for a truly independent process going forward into the next Senedd.
“I would ask members to reflect on the facts of the report today. Anyway, I have let this nightmare consume my family, and I for far too long it’s taken an enormous toll on me. And regardless of how you vote, I will always be both apologetic for using that language and thankful for drawing a line under it.”
For confidential support, Samaritans can be contacted around the clock 365 days a year on 116 123.Following Ms Jones’ speech, the chair of the committee Labour MS Hannah Blythyn said: “I want to begin by acknowledging the member’s presence here today and her apology in this chamber.
“And to reiterate that I know support is available and is placed for dealing with this situation. Many of know what it is like to be in the eye of the media and under that scrutiny and it is an incredibly challenging time.
“And I would like to stress to the Llywydd and everybody here that the work of the committee is never personal and it’s never political, we are just following a process to the best of our abilities.”
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