IT MAY have been the right thing to do for the government to raise national insurance contributions for the self-employed but it was morally illegitimate because it broke a Conservatives’ manifesto pledge.

However, this is nothing compared to the ongoing investigation by the Electoral Commission and the police into whether the Conservatives broke electoral law by accounting its 2015 general election battlebus expenses as national and not local expenditure.

If found guilty and a re-run of the election is called, it would morally illegitimatise the current government and all that has flowed from it.

The right thing to do now is for the government to await the outcome of the police and Electoral Commission’s investigation and probable ensuant judicial decision before proceeding with any major constitutional legislation.

GEOFF NAYLOR

Winchester