In an outburst that might jar with ordinary people used to going to their place of work five days a week, Jenny Chapman said MPs sitting on a Friday “looks a bit barmy”.
She has insisted, however, that she’s not looking for an extra day off but that the current arrangements in parliament are “wasteful”.
The Darlington MP said: “I could have used much more forthright language, I was being polite.
“The current set-up is the worst of all worlds.
“If I’m going to be in Westminster I want it to be worthwhile.”
Currently Fridays are largely set aside for private members’ Bills, a chance for backbench MPs to introduce laws. With most Bills unlikely to make it into law many MPs stay away.
An inquiry into the arrangements has been launched by MPs.
Chapman sits on the procedure committee that is looking into the issue.
She made her comments, adding that it “looks mad” to voters watching Friday sittings, during a recent evidence session at which the witnesses were former Labour MP Thomas Docherty and Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg, renowned for his long-winded speeches aimed at ensuring that backbench Bills run out of time and can’t become law.
Added Chapman: “The system misleads the public and MPs are complicit in this.
“The public believe that if we attend on a Friday and vote then we can change the law. In reality, the government selects which bits of legislation it wants to pass or see passed and its backbenchers prevent other Bills from going forward by talking them out.”
Recently a Bill to axe car-parking charges at English hospitals and another aimed at increasing access to cheaper medicines were both filibustered – meaning an MP managed to speak for long enough to ensure the legislation ran out of time.
Chapman, a shadow education minister, added: “The public do watch and they’re disgusted. It’s nonsensical, we need to stop carrying on like parliament is a 19th Century debating society.
“What constituents don’t want is to see their money wasted and their MPs’ time wasted.”
The SNP’s shadow leader of the House, Pete Wishart, criticised Chapman’s choice of words.
He said: “It’s not language I would have used.
“Friday sittings have been a feature of my time in parliament so I’ve no particular issue with them per se, but we must know the business so Scottish MPs can make critical decisions on whether to stay for urgent questions or go back to serve our constituents.”
Wishart last week slammed the increasing use of Fridays for making the government answer urgent questions as “grossly unfair” to Scottish MPs.
Labour have recently tabled urgent questions for Fridays that require ministers to come to the Commons and respond on issues including prisons, legal aid and government job cuts.
Wishart said: “Friday is a critical day for us to spend in our constituency.
“Scottish MPs already must spend a whole day travelling each week so we need to use our time as efficiently as possible to maximise the time we have for constituents.
“But if there are urgent questions it is grossly unfair to those of us in Scotland that can’t get back to Westminster.
“It means only London MPs are able to go to urgent questions, they get access that we don’t.”
Analysis
With Westminster’s reputation never lower, an MP complaining about going to work on a Friday seems unwise to say the least.
Jenny Chapman does have a point, though.
Currently Fridays in Westminster are neither one thing nor the other. Constituents ask MPs to vote on pet issues but by doing so they are unable to spend the day in their constituency offering their services to others.
And opening parliament on a Friday incurs costs in terms of security, staff to keep the official record and catering facilities. It’s no wonder the procedure select committee is trying to find a better solution.
However, hardworking people are unlikely to take kindly to an MP appearing to complain about going to work five days a week.
At least in parliament we can see what our elected representatives are doing. Or not doing.
MPs need to be better at explaining what they do away from the Commons. Maybe then we may even consider sending them to London less often, for there is no point in them being in Westminster with nothing to legislate on and only subsidised booze to tempt their idle hands.
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