Reform MP James McMurdock has suspended himself from the social gathering.
“The allegations relate to business propriety during the pandemic and before he became an MP.
“At Reform UK we take these issues very severely and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation.
“We will not be commenting further at this moment.”
A Sunday Occasions article claims that corporations he owned obtained a complete of £70,000 from the federal government’s Covid Bounce Again mortgage scheme regardless of being successfully dormant.
One had no workers and negligible belongings however borrowed £50,000, the paper experiences. That meant it ought to have had a turnover of £200,000.
One other was dormant till January 31, 2020. Over the next yr, it borrowed £20,000, which might have required turnover of £100,000 below the Bounce Again scheme.
Neither filed accounts or company filings after the loans, which the paper says is a violation of the Corporations Act.
In his personal assertion Mr McMurdock stated he had instructed a journalist engaged on the story that “all my business dealings had always been conducted fully within the law and in compliance with all regulations”.
The MP wrote in a submit on X that he had requested for the whip to be suspended as a “precautionary measure” and “for the protection of Reform UK”.
Mr McMurdock joined Reform UK in 2024 after having labored within the banking sector. In final yr’s normal election, he was elected because the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock.
He beat Labour by a whisker, profitable by 98 votes, taking the seat from the Conservatives.
It marks the most recent incident of a Reform MP having the social gathering whip eliminated. Rupert Lowe was suspended in March over alleged threats of bodily violence in direction of the social gathering’s then chairman Zia Yusuf.
The allegations had been then referred to the Metropolitan Police, who later stated Mr Lowe wouldn’t be charged.
The MP for Nice Yarmouth has all the time denied wrongdoing and claimed he was the sufferer of a witch hunt after talking out in opposition to social gathering chief Nigel Farage within the media.
