UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under pressure after she has been alleged of dodging a driving fine for over speeding outside London.
According to the new agency PTI, Braverman’s alleged violation has come tp fore after a media report claimed that she dodged a driving fine while she was Attorney General of the country last year.
'The Sunday Times' has reported that the Indian-origin Cabinet minister asked civil servants to help her avoid a speeding fine and points on her driving licence by arranging a private one-to-one driving awareness course.
According to the rules in UK, anyone caught speeding is handed a fine and penalty points on their licence unless they sign up to an awareness course held in group sessions or online.
Advertisement
The report quoting a spokesperson for the Home Secretary said she "accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so".
"She took the three points (on her licence) and paid the fine last year," the report quoted spokesperson as having said.
However, the issue has been dominating headlines in the UK as Opposition parties demand an independent investigation to determine if Braverman broke the ministerial code and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s G7 news conference in Japan was also overshadowed by the issue, it said.
"I don't know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary," the report quoted Sunak as having said.
Advertisement
"I think you can see first-hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she's expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine," he said.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called it "shocking" that Braverman had reportedly tried to bend the normal process for speeding drivers, the report said.
"As Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is responsible for upholding the law, yet this report suggests she has tried to abuse her position to get round the normal penalties," said Cooper of the newspaper report.
She called for an "urgent investigation", starting with Prime Minister Sunak's independent adviser on ministers' interests, Laurie Magnus, assessing whether the Home Secretary's behaviour breached the ministerial code, it mentioned.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael has also called for Braverman to be "urgently investigated".
