Reform MS faces 14-day Senedd ban over racial slur

Reform's only Senedd member faces a two-week suspension over offensive comments made in a WhatsApp chat.

In August 2023 Laura Anne Jones used a racial slur to describe Chinese people.

Recommending the sanction, the Senedd's standards committee said "inappropriate and offensive comments have no place in our Senedd or society more widely". Jones was cleared of complaints relating to making false expenses claims and unfair dismissal.

Jones apologised "again" for "regrettable comments" in a "private message" but welcomed being "cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to the malicious accusation of fraudulent activity".

Warning: This story contains strong racist language and swearing

The Senedd's standards committee has made its recommendation of a two-week suspension following a lengthy investigation by the Senedd's standards commissioner, Douglas Bain.

He was asked to consider three sets of allegations against Laura Anne Jones, including a complaint that she had made a racist comment and failed to address discriminatory behaviour.

Jones, who represents South Wales East in Cardiff Bay, was a Conservative Member of the Senedd (MS) at the time of the allegations.

She defected to Reform in July.

The former employee involved in the conversation also called the individual the politician had criticised a "Grade A prick".

In a message on 13 November 2023 the same employee Jones had spoken to in the above message posted in a WhatsApp exchange: "Suella [Braverman, former home secretary] was correct in what she said too. We have two-tier policing. It was clear over the weekend if you're white working class you get hammered, if you're an Islamist it's all fine, spew all the hate you want."

The standards committee said Jones had accepted that the post was "unacceptable" but she had failed to reprimand the member of staff.

In light of the commissioner's findings, the committee said Jones had broken several rules from the code of conduct for Senedd members and said her conduct "fell far below the standards expected".

"It points to an office culture where there was little respect towards others or any consideration of what may be found offensive."

However the committee also concluded that Jones was "suffering with poor physical and mental health" at the time of some of the reported comments.

The Senedd will vote on the recommendation of a 14-day ban next week.

A Welsh Labour spokesperson said Jones' "choice of language is unacceptable".

"This sort of divisive rhetoric has no place in Wales and stands in stark contrast to the values of the Welsh public," added the spokesperson.

Plaid Cymru called the Reform politician's words "vile and completely unacceptable" that "should never be used by anyone, especially those elected to represent our communities in our national parliament".

"The fact that Reform accepted the member's defection following this information coming to light tells us everything you need to know about the party, whose divisive rhetoric only serves to pit our communities against each other," said its spokesperson.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds made similar criticisms of Jones before urging Reform UK to eject her from its ranks.

"If Reform want to prove they're a serious party in Wales, they'd go further than the Senedd standards committee and expel her altogether," she said.

Mr Bain also investigated an allegation that Jones had instructed a staff member to make false expenses claims for mileage.

The complaints were passed onto the police who found no evidence of fraud.

The politician said she had "instructed the complainant to use all available records to ensure that she included in the claim all journeys for which a claim could properly be made".

The committee noted that "on balance [Mr Bain] was satisfied that the member's version of events was 'more likely than not to be the correct one'" and so he did not find that Jones had made fraudulent claims.

Jones has repaid the money that was incorrectly claimed on her behalf, the report said.

Responding to the report, Jones said: "I am delighted to have finally been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to the malicious accusation of fraudulent activity.

"I am now looking forward to drawing a line under this after nearly two years of being hounded over it, and the detrimental impact that it has on both me and my young family.

"I have apologised, and I apologise again, for the regrettable comments that I made in a private message. I never meant to cause offence to anyone.

"I would like to thank both the police and standards commissioner for their thorough investigation, and I accept their conclusions."

A Reform UK Wales spokesman added that "Laura has rightly apologised for her comments" and she had "made a clear effort to make amends for these comments".

But he added "it is quite clear that there is a serious issue with two-tier policing in this country, and no politician should be barred from our national parliament for discussing this".