JACOB Rees-Mogg has insisted MPs have spent “quite enough time” debating their own standards after the SNP demanded two days of Commons time is dedicated to discuss “Government sleaze and corruption”.
Boris Johnson’s Government’s plans to tighten rules around MPs’ second jobs were backed in a Commons vote on Wednesday evening, despite dozens of Tories failing to vote in favour of the plan – labelled a “watered down” strategy by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
The Prime Minister reportedly told a meeting of backbench Tory MPs, the 1922 Committee that he “crashed the car into the ditch” over his Government’s attempt to get Owen Paterson off the hook for breaking lobbying rules, insisting that “I will get the car out of the ditch”.
The proposals to tighten rules on standards will not be properly drawn up until January after Labour’s proposals for a wider crackdown on second jobs was rejected by MPs.
Sir Keir said the UK Government plans set out “a weak proposal to have some further discussions” about reforming standards, adding that he would work with the PM “only if he wants the standards to go up”.
The SNP’s Pete Wishart appealed for two dedicated days for MPs to properly debate the sleaze scandal engulfing Westminster.
Addressing Mr Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, Mr Wishart said: “Can I congratulate the Leader of the House? Congratulate him for actually still being here.
“He has defied every single rule and principle of political gravity by ensuring that this disastrous period of sleaze now goes into its third week.”
He added: “We do need at least two days of debate on all the issues around Government sleaze and corruption, and we need to see the Prime Minister leading those debates.”
Mr Wishart also called for more Commons time on “cash for honours” in the House of Lords after he called for the Metropolitan Police to investigate it earlier this month.
He said: “The Prime Minister yesterday all but conceded that donors are given a place in the House of Lords for the contributions and he said … until you get rid of the system by which changing in bands from other parties we have to go ahead, conceding that money buys you a place in the legislature which allows you to defined to determine and amend the laws of this country.”
But Mr Rees-Mogg claimed MPs have already spent enough time debating standards – insisting more pressing matters must be prioritised.
He said: “We have spent quite enough time, I think, discussing ourselves in this House in the last 10 days or so.
“It does seem to me, I go back to the Finance Bill, a bit of a concern that when we have a debate that could go to any hour on something that affects every single one of our constituents, affects their livelihoods, the opposition are too idle to turn up to debate it.
“But when we are talking about ourselves they want even more time to do a little bit of focusing on our own concerns.”
Addressing the proposals regarding Lords reform, he added: “The idea that there is this huge public concern about the House of Lords, well he (Mr Wishart) must move in very different circles to those that we have in North East Somerset.
“The number of letters I received on reform of the House of Lords can be counted in single digits most years.”
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