Westminster reform: Lindsay Hoyle and Andrea Leadsom call for urgent changeson May 1, 2022 at 12:39 am

Senior MPs have called for a drastic overhaul of Westminster, following a series of sexual misconduct and bullying claims about politicians.

Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle said “radical action” and a review of working practices is needed.

Meanwhile, former leader of the house Dame Andrea Leadsom backed setting up a human resources department.

The calls for reform come amid reports more than 50 MPs are facing allegations of sexual misconduct.

Multiple claims of bullying and sexual miscount by MPs have emerged in recent weeks, culminating on Saturday in the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish – after he admitted to having twice watched pornography in Parliament.

However, it is not the first time Westminster has been rocked by bullying and harassment allegations, after claims began to emerge in 2017 that led to the creation of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).

Writing in the Observer, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to ensure Parliament was a “safe and inclusive” place to work and people felt supported and the serious allegations which have emerged must be addressed as a “matter of urgency”.

He also questioned whether MPs should be employers of their own staff and asked whether an outside body or other alternative could act as employer, as long as the MP was able to choose their staff.

This proposal for staff not to be employed by parliamentarians would mean new staff being “employed on standard terms and conditions”, he said.

Sir Lindsay wrote: “In my opinion, it is time to consider radical action, and review structures and processes that could make a difference.

“Some serious allegations have been made, and we must address them as a matter of urgency. It is imperative we do the right thing by staff and MPs as well.”

He added that work was under way to establish a “Speaker’s Conference” as soon as possible to consider these issues and suggested looking at practices in other parliaments around the world.

It has been a turbulent few weeks in Westminster, with three cabinet ministers reportedly among the 56 MPs facing allegations of sexual misconduct that have been referred to the ICGS.

As the beginning of April, Conservative MP David Warburton was suspended from the party pending an investigation into alleged sexual harassment.

A few weeks later it emerged Labour MP Liam Byrne is due to be suspended for two days from the Commons for bullying a former staff member.

And Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan resigned from parliament after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Former leader of the House of Commons Dame Andrea Leadsom, who led a cross-party panel which oversaw the creation of the ICGS, has expressed support for parliament to have a human resources department for staff.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, she said she believes the ICGS is still fit for purpose, but one key problem the scheme faces is it has not been able to employ a sufficient number of specialist investigators.

She said: “Things haven’t changed and that’s because there aren’t enough cases coming through and it’s taking too long for investigations to come to and end.

“It’s only when you see people being blind drunk and subject to the appropriate sanctions that people will start to think twice about their behaviour”.