Russell George: Betting prices MS faraway from committees

A Conservative Member of the Senedd (MS) who has been charged with betting offences has been faraway from two committees within the Welsh Parliament.

Russell George was one in every of 15 individuals charged by the Playing Fee, together with a former Welsh Tory MP and the Welsh Conservatives’ most senior employees member, following an investigation into betting on final summer time’s common election.

Mr George has now misplaced his paid job as chairman of the well being committee, and is not a member of the committee which scrutinises the work of the primary minister.

It follows the choice by Welsh Conservative Senedd chief Darren Millar to droop Mr George from the Tory group, making him an impartial MS.

Mr George, former Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams and Welsh Conservative director Thomas James have been all charged by the Playing Fee on Monday.

They and 12 others will seem at Westminster Magistrates Court docket in June.

It follows an investigation wanting into alleged dishonest referring to bets made on the timing of the 2024 common election.

These discovered responsible of an offence might face a high-quality or a jail time period of as much as two years.

Mr George was chosen because the lead candidate for the Gwynedd Maldwyn Conservative checklist for the subsequent Senedd election final Saturday.

He has been an MS for Montgomeryshire since 2011.

Mr George misplaced his positions on the 2 committees due to his standing as an impartial MS, the positions having been allotted to the Welsh Conservatives.

A spokesperson for the Senedd confirmed that the presiding officer Elin Jones wrote to political occasion enterprise managers on Monday evening “confirming that following his suspension from the Conservative group Russell George is not a member of the well being committee or first minister scrutiny committee”.

The Playing Fee stated on Monday that the investigation targeted on people suspected of utilizing confidential info to achieve an unfair benefit in betting markets – a felony offence.

Craig Williams was MP for Montgomeryshire from 2019 to 2024, and represented Cardiff North from 2015 to 2017.

He had been an aide to prime minister Rishi Sunak within the final Conservative UK authorities.

Thomas James is director of the Welsh Conservatives – a paid job throughout the occasion. The Conservatives confirmed on Monday that Mr James had been suspended.