The House of Commons disciplinary procedures lack “teeth” and require urgent reform, Theresa May has warned.
In a letter to Speaker John Bercow, the Prime Minister said a situation where MPs did not have to follow procedures laid down by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) could not be tolerated any longer.
She asked for Mr Bercow’s assistance in working on a cross-party basis to establish a new “House-wide mediation service” backed by a “contractually binding grievance procedure” available for all MPs.
Speaker John Bercow. (Rick Findler/PA)
In her letter Mrs May said she was sure the Speaker would share her concerns at recent media reports of alleged misconduct by some MPs towards staff.
“I believe it is important that those who work in the House of Commons are treated properly and fairly – as would be expected in any modern workplace,” she wrote.
“As you know, there is a suggested disciplinary procedure provided by IPSA as part of the standard contract. However, it does not have the required teeth as contractually an MP does not have to follow the procedure.
“I do not believe that this situation can be tolerated any longer. It is simply not fair on staff, many of whom are young and in their first job post-education.”
(David Mirzoeff/PA)
Mrs May said the Conservative Party had offered MPs a code of conduct on a voluntary basis but that it had no legal standing and was “not fit for its intended purpose”.
“The Conservative Party is determined to protect those staff who work for MPs but in order to do so effectively I believe that we must establish a House-wide mediation service complemented by a contractually binding grievance procedure available for all MPs irrespective of their party banner,” she said.
“It is vital that the staff and the public have confidence in Parliament and resolving this employment irregularity on a cross-party basis can play an important role in this.
“I would be grateful if you would be able to use your office to assist me in doing all we can to ensure that the reputation of Parliament is not damaged further by allegations of impropriety.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here