Jim Dobbin clarifies his foreign trips

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Jim Dobbin MP

Heywood & Middleton MP, Jim Dobbin, has contacted Rochdale Online to defend himself and issue clarification following the BBC report accusing him of breaching parliamentary rules in relation to registering and declaring overseas trips paid for by foreign governments.

Mr Dobbin says: "As a longstanding member of the European Scrutiny Committee for over 13 years, I have an interest in all European areas including Gibraltar and I am a member of the All Party Parliamentary Gibraltar Group. Every visit I have made at the invitation of the Gibraltar Government has been declared to the Standards body in the House of Commons and put on the Register of Members' Interests. Gibraltar is a British Overseas territory. It is a naval base and is crucial as a defence base in the Mediterranean. Its people are British citizens with British Passports and vote in European elections as part of a constituency in the South West of England. The member of the European Parliament for the South West of England represents Gibraltar in the European Parliament. They have a loyalty to the British Monarchy and the British Parliament.

"The Early Day Motions I signed are enclosed. According to the BBC I should have put the letter R against each EDM to show I had an interest. The letter R stands for Relevant. I am not sure what relevance the EDMs had to my visits to Gibraltar. They can in no way be described as commercial. They merely show support for the Gibraltar people and state. I would not engage in commercial lobbying as it is against my principles. As I have said in an earlier statement I am seeking clarification on the status of British territories and I shall abide by that decision.

"I hope this clarifies the situation."