Blackpool South MP Scott Benton should be suspended from the Commons for 35 days after being caught in a lobbying scandal, the Committee on Standards has recommended.

In April, The Times newspaper filmed Benton appearing to offer to leak confidential information and lobby ministers in return for payments from a group of fake gambling industry investors.

After the report, he referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards who opened an investigation in the same month.

The Committee on Standards recommended the suspension after it found he committed a “very serious breach” of lobbying rules.

If approved by MPs, Rishi Sunak could face yet another by-election in Benton’s Blackpool South constituency.

Benton was suspended earlier this year and had the whip withdrawn after he was caught by The Times offering to lobby ministers on behalf of gambling investors in exchange for money.