Code of Conduct and Modernisation Committee

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure, Madam Deputy Speaker, to speak for the second day running with you in the Chair. May I say what a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan). I wish him well, along with all the others who made their maiden speeches today. This House is enriched and blessed by the contributions of Members from all parts of the House. It augurs well for the future. We all benefit when everyone brings their knowledge and their expertise of other subject matters to the Chamber.

In the very short time that I have, I wish to refer to the important conversation that needs to be had about MPs and double jobbing. As MPs and elected representatives, our three main priorities are accountability, scrutiny and representation. There are ways to be critical and compassionate in relation to this subject. For instance, we should consider those who may have had established businesses before they came to this House.

A report in 2015 indicated that 26 MPs declared more earnings from directorships, paid employment and shareholdings than they did from their parliamentary salary. That puts a question in my mind.

On the other hand, I have never made any secret of how grateful I am to be able to carry on with my role. I dedicate so much of my time, as do others, to doing my job to the best of my ability. But we have seven Sinn Féin MPs who are elected but do not take their seats. They do not get a wage, but they can claim for office expenses.

Undoubtedly, there are issues in relation to double jobbing that need to be addressed, but many of those are down to individual circumstances. I do not know everybody’s circumstances, but an MP who is elected to this House could be here for five years—for one term—and, at the end of it, they will still have a mortgage to pay. What about the job or even the opportunity that they may have had before they came here? I just pose that as a question. I was a councillor and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly before I became an MP. Once I was elected, I gave up my council job and my role as an MLA. I gave the business that I owned to my son. That is what we can do, but consideration should be given to both sides of the argument. However, my stance is clear. My No. 1 priority is doing the job that I was elected to do, which is to represent the people of Strangford, to scrutinise Government legislation, and to be held accountable to my constituents.

The other issue that I wish to speak to is modernisation. I can well remember coming to this House, sitting on these green Benches, and feeling the overwhelming weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I am innately aware of what it means to have the honour of representing my constituency in the greatest seat of democracy.

Although I noted the difference in the way that things were handled when I was first elected in 2010 and struggled to come to terms with some of the traditional aspects of the House, I now treasure those traditions. There are those who express the other point of view and want to see lots of change, and then there are those who, like me, see the traditions as something to hold on to.

I agree with the rationale behind these timeless traditions, which is something that I am afraid we will lose if we blindly modernise. Mr Speaker said to hon. Members, “If you want to catch my eye, wear a tie.” Well, everybody who can and should wear a tie is wearing one today. I support the rationale behind that. I think it is the right way to do things.

If we do not move with the times, then the times will move without us; however, I urge caution. We should ensure that not one thing is changed simply because we can rather than because we should. Not all modernisations are welcome. There are now rules in place that preclude me from being an officer of more than six all-party parliamentary groups. That has been difficult, as I am letting some of those groups down. I put that forward as a point of view; obviously others will take a different view on that.

Some modernisations are necessary. The overhaul of financial claims was a vital tool in restoring public confidence. Modernisation of the voting system was necessary for functionality during covid, and I am thankful that the flexibility was there, but we need to be incredibly careful, if we consider changes to Commons voting, that they do not result in more absenteeism and remote voting. Some have suggested that we change the voting system; I suggest that we do not. Modernisation of the maternity system was long overdue, and I am thankful for that. We need modernisation, but it must be for a clear purpose and not for ease of operation.

The traditions of this place should not be dismissed as mere traditions; there is wisdom behind many of them that must be protected. I urge the House to ensure that such protection is in place. I am all for modernisation as necessary, but I feel strongly that it must be done with wisdom and sensitivity, and that our centuries-long traditions should not be abandoned to give an appearance of modern society. Yes, I would love to speak first in every debate, but I am not going to. I would not be allowed to do so; it would not be the right way of doing things. I respect the convention that would prevent it as ancient but necessary. Every single issue discussed must be considered in that way.

Just because something has aged does not mean that it ceases to be of use. That must be the premise of any discussion on modernisation in this great House, in this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—better together. With all the culture, history and traditions from all parts of society that we have here, we can work together to make changes in the right way—not change for change’s sake, but the changes that are necessary.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Gordon McKee to make his maiden speech.

[Gordon McKee (Glasgow South) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate you on your election and welcome you to the Chair, although it feels a bit weird to welcome anyone here, given that I have been here for about two minutes. I follow on from the excellent contributions made by my hon. Friends the Members for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan), for Cardiff West (Mr Barros-Curtis), and for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray) among others. I praise in particular my hon. Friend for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, both because he gave an excellent speech and because his mum is one of my constituents.

As I start this new job, I have been thinking a lot about my family; I was doing so while preparing my remarks today. I was thinking in particular of my grandpa, who was a coalminer in the coalfields of Lanarkshire, just outside Glasgow. When I was a wee boy, he would tell me of the conditions that he worked in: “Darkness,” he said, “so black that you could hold your hand right in front of your eyes and still not be able to see it.” In that darkness, he would toil away, unable to imagine his own future, let alone that of his grandweans, as he would say. All the while he toiled, he was inhaling fumes so toxic that later in life he would have lung cancer, and live the rest of his life with just one lung.

My dad, a welder, is here today—off during the Glasgow fair—along with my mum, who runs her own business, to watch me from the Gallery. My career so far has been very different from that of my parents and grandparents. For a start, they have a proper job, whereas I am now doing this for a living, but it has been different for two related reasons. The first is the Labour party—both in the sense that it has helped to provide me with a new job, and in the protections that it has delivered for working people. Health and safety legislation, delivered by Labour and built by the trade union movement, have ended the kind of conditions that my grandparents worked in. The second reason my career has been different is technology. I suspect that today in Britain there are more bitcoin miners than coalminers, and that is ultimately a good thing. Coalmining was difficult, hard, laborious work.

As a kid I spent many long hours in front of my computer and, while much of that was spent playing FIFA against my wee brother Mark, some of it was more productive, because I taught myself to code. I watched YouTube videos and over weeks, months and years I learned how to build software. I developed iPhone apps that were used around the world, meaning that code written on my laptop in Glasgow could be pushed out to devices around the world in seconds and that this 19-year-old kid in his childhood bedroom could run an app servicing people from Los Angeles to Dubai.

If it can do that, technology can reform our public services too. Technology might even help to reform this House, as we are debating today. I hope and know that high-growth, innovative businesses in my home city of Glasgow will be a key part of that.

Much has been said and written about Glasgow over the years, but one thing sticks with me in particular. Anthony Bourdain was not a man known for his parliamentary language, so let us just say that he described Glasgow as the most unpretentious place on earth—an “antidote” to the world, in his words,

“so unapologetically working class and attitude-free”.

I think he was right because, of all the things I love about Glasgow, it is our people and our humour that I enjoy most. If someone ever gets a wee bit too big for their boots, returning home to Glasgow will soon put an end to that—something I am sure will be increasingly useful the longer I spend in this place.

Unlike many Glaswegians, my admiration even extends to some of Glasgow’s politicians. It is customary in speeches such as this to praise our predecessors, but I know that for some that will be done through slightly gritted teeth at the end of a long and bitter-fought election campaign. In my case, I talk about my predecessor with genuine warmth and admiration. Stewart McDonald served the people of Glasgow South diligently and built an enviable reputation in this place. He was particularly respected for his long-standing support for the people of Ukraine, something that saw him awarded the Ukrainian order of merit. If I leave this place having done half as much as he did for people around the world fighting for democracy, I will leave a happy man.

Before Stewart, there were Labour predecessors. There was Tom Harris, who has been personally kind to me; John Maxton, now Lord Maxton, whose son taught me modern studies in high school, believe it or not—although I will leave it up to others to decide whether he did a good or bad job of that—and of course Teddy Taylor, who is still remembered fondly by many of my constituents.

I would also like to mention two other Members of this House who had a big impact on my life, both from Glasgow. The former Member for East Kilbride, Adam Ingram, grew up in the east end of Glasgow and was one of the first people I ever spoke to in the Labour party. His advice and wise counsel has been a constant source of support to me over the years, and I am incredibly grateful. The other is a southsider, my friend and the former Member for Glasgow Central, Anas Sarwar. I had the great privilege of serving as the director of Anas’s successful leadership campaign to become leader of Scottish Labour. Three and a half years ago, as we sat beginning that campaign, it was hard to imagine what the future might hold, but even in our most optimistic of moments, I do not think we would have predicted this. I stand here as one of 37 Scottish Labour MPs.

Having praised three Glaswegians, I will do something unusual for a Glasgow MP and praise someone from Edinburgh. My right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) has been a friend of mine for many years, and he deserves enormous credit for his long and lonely shift as the sole Scottish Labour MP, and for being someone who recognised that the Labour party had to change if it was to earn people’s trust once again. It gives me enormous pleasure and pride to see him in his rightful place as the Secretary of State for Scotland.

That brief interlude aside, we return to Scotland’s real capital city. I am privileged to represent Glasgow’s southside, a place that has had something of a renaissance in recent years, boasting the trendy tenements of Shawlands, the tree-lined avenues of Newlands and the beautiful conservation village of Carmunnock, among others. My constituency contains many of Glasgow’s beautiful parks, of which Linn Park, Queen’s Park and Pollok Country Park are just a few. In the latter, hon. Members will find the Burrell collection, which was awarded the Art Fund’s museum of the year award after its reopening last year.

Like many parts of the city, however, we are not without difficulties. Castlemilk is an area with enormous spirit and the kindest people anyone will ever meet, but it also remains an area with challenges. Even today, the simple act of getting a supermarket in Castlemilk has proven difficult, something I hope I hope to change as local MP.

What is true of all my constituency is that it is an outward-looking, diverse and welcoming place. The Scots-Asian community in particular have contributed enormously to Glasgow’s character, and I am very proud to represent them here in Parliament. Immigration has made my constituency richer, and it makes our country richer, too. The southside of Glasgow is also a passionately pro-European place. Although Brexit was settled in the previous Parliament, I intend to support the Government’s moves to repair our relationship with Europe.

My first duty is to my constituency and my country—being the Member of Parliament for Glasgow South is the only job that I will do, so long as the people of Glasgow South wish for me to continue—but I also feel a sense of responsibility towards the many millions of people at home and around the world who do not have a voice; the people toiling away in darkness, just as my grandpa did all those years ago. I hope that none of us in this House forgets the millions—indeed, billions—of people around the world who are not as lucky as us, including those facing persecution or war, those without access to clean water or a good education, and those bound by modern slavery. I am one of the lucky few to serve in this place, but I will never forget the people who put me here and the people who do not have a voice. Delivering for them will be how I judge my success.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Lisa Smart to make her maiden speech.

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

It is an absolute honour to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Gordon McKee). He spoke passionately about his constituency, and his love for his constituents was clear for all to hear. It is also an honour to follow maiden speeches from the hon. Members for Ipswich (Jack Abbott), for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp), for Telford (Shaun Davies), for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray), for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson), for Cardiff West (Mr Barros-Curtis), for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge) and for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan). Each is, in their own way, an act to follow.

I thank the people of Hazel Grove constituency for placing their trust in me. That trust is a profound responsibility, and I am committed to repaying it through hard work, integrity and service to my community. I acknowledge the work of my predecessor William Wragg, who served in Parliament from 2015 until he stood down at the last election. He stood up to those in power when he felt that it was needed, and he spoke openly about poor mental health in a way that I am sure will have helped to break down stigma. On behalf of all residents of Hazel Grove, I wish him all the best for the future.

I accept that I may be a little biased, but Hazel Grove is quite clearly the finest constituency in the land. It ranges from central Stockport out to the edge of the Peak district, taking in the communities of Bredbury, Bosden Farm, Compstall, Great Moor, Hawk Green, Heaviley, High Lane, Little Moor, Marple, Marple Bridge, Mellor, Mill Brow, Norbury, Offerton, Romiley, Strines, Woodley, and some, but not all, of Hazel Grove itself. Whether the peaceful havens of our green spaces or the proud reminders of our industrial heritage, Hazel Grove has it all. We have the Peak forest, the Macclesfield canals, which have one of the steepest lock flights in the country, and our beautiful rivers: the Goyt, the Mersey and the Tame. It is no wonder so many people want to call our area home. Our rivers would be even more beautiful if the water company were not pumping quite so much sewage into them. We very much look forward to the Government implementing their plans to clean up that scandal.

However, it is the people who really make our community. Starting Point social enterprise in Woodley is tackling digital exclusion by giving some of my more mature constituents the confidence to get online, the Cherry Tree Project in Romiley empowers young people to live their best lives, and NK Theatre Arts works with children and adults of all abilities across the borough, using creativity and the performing arts to transform lives. Local people have many of the answers that we seek on how to fix the problems we face as a country. My job, and the job of this House, is to empower them, not tell them what is good for them.

I am a liberal and a Liberal Democrat. We exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society in which we balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

I joined the Lib Dems and got involved in politics because shouting at the television was not bringing about the changes that we need. My constituents have been very clear with me that their top priority is our local health service. They should not have a hospital that is literally falling down, they should not have to wait months or years for treatment, and they should not have to struggle to care for their loved ones. The phenomenal staff at Stepping Hill hospital should not have to wade through flooded corridors to get to their patients because yet another pipe has burst, as it did last weekend. Stepping Hill hospital must get the repairs it needs, and we need a new, additional hospital in the town centre so that local people can get the health and social care services they deserve. I will not rest until they do.

I could not possibly make my first speech in this House without mentioning the last Liberal Democrat to represent my community, Andrew Stunell. Andrew was the MP for Hazel Grove from 1997 to 2015, and he was that rare kind of politician who gave politics a good name. He was an MP who set the standard to which all who came after him are rightly held—he was interested in doing something, not just being something. He put his constituents first and brought about changes in the law, both as a Minister and as a Back Bencher.

Andrew made things better for the whole country: as a Minister, he delivered the Localism Act 2011, but as a Back Bencher he came top of the private Member’s Bill ballot in 2003, resulting in the Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill becoming an Act of Parliament in 2004. More than all that, he was one of the warmest, kindest people I have ever met. He was the kind of person you want on your team: hard-working, honest and kind. He helped me work out what it was to make a difference in public life. The people of Hazel Grove, the whole Lib Dem family, and I will miss him and his guidance hugely.

I am the first woman to be elected as the MP for Hazel Grove, and I take that responsibility really seriously. I am especially delighted to be a Member of the largest group of Liberal Democrats ever elected to this House: there are 73 of us, if we include the right honourable Jennie. I went to a comprehensive school, and was the first member of my family to go to university.

Before deciding that shouting at the telly was not bringing about the changes that I wanted to see in the world and that standing for elected office was the way to be part of that change, I worked in a business as a director of client relations—my clients were big pension funds, charities and foundations. I was then the chief exec of a charity, educating women and girls in the developing world. For the past eight years, I have also been lucky enough to represent some of my constituents as an elected councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley on Stockport council, a role I have loved. I am one of a rather large number of colleagues who come to this House knowing at first hand the value of local government, and the desperate need for it to be funded properly.

I turn to the substance of today’s debate, which is standards and modernisation. The main thrust of what we have heard from the Government and the Leader of the House—that any further roles should benefit an MP’s constituents—is absolutely right. In the short term, we should of course stop MPs from taking on roles as paid parliamentary advisers, strategists or consultants. In the longer term, daylight is often the best disinfectant, so I ask the Leader of the House to consider whether publishing any employment contracts for outside arrangements—with suitable redactions—and the transparency that would bring would allow constituents to judge for themselves whether they were getting value for money from their MP.

As a new MP, I am struck and more than a little bemused by some of the wonderful conventions and habits of this House. Taking it as read that colleagues are honourable is a good thing, and referring to one another as the Members for our constituencies acts as a powerful reminder of who sent us here, but I am also struck by how much modernisation is needed. We on the Lib Dem Benches look forward to supporting the Government when we agree, but I would expect us to urge, persuade, and on occasion push the Government to go further and faster to make us the most effective we can be, because our constituents deserve no less.

With so many newly elected colleagues, we have a cracking opportunity to change this place for the better. It could be so much more efficient and so much more effective. Let us do that with fresh eyes before we are all too institutionalised and think that some of this stuff is normal. However, that is also going to take some courage from the new Government, because making processes and procedures less obscure so that more people understand them and making this place more efficient will mean that MPs have more power and the Government slightly less of it. Governments—especially Governments with new large majorities, I am guessing—will probably grow rather fond of that power quite quickly, so let us get cracking.

Alongside modernising this place, we should of course reform our politics and our democracy more fundamentally. The House of Lords should obviously be elected, 16 and 17-year-olds should be able to vote, and we must replace the antiquated and deeply unfair first-past-the-post system with a fair, proportionate voting system. I look forward to making the case for these changes during my time here.

This election was the fourth time I have stood to represent the people of Hazel Grove as the Lib Dem candidate, and it probably takes a certain sort of stubbornness, resilience and determination to do that. It most certainly took the support of my family, and especially of my partner, Ed. I am so grateful to him. Our mischievous rescue dog Bonnie has not quite made up her mind yet about what she thinks about me working away from home rather more, but I hope to be able to convince her that winning is better than losing, as it undoubtedly is. Winning enables us to get stuff done, and there is a lot to do.

It is the honour of my life to be elected to represent my phenomenal community, the people of Hazel Grove constituency. They will be at the heart of everything I do here, and I hope I do them proud.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Hamish Falconer to make his maiden speech.

[Hamish Falconer (Lincoln) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I pay tribute to the many maiden speeches of new Members I have heard today, including the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) for her fine speech. Hon. Members have spoken with affection and commitment about their home constituencies. Each of them rightly places their own area above all others, and that is understandable, but I stand before you as the Member for the oldest continuous constituency to send a Member to this House. For almost 1,000 years, men and women have stood, as I stand today, proud to proclaim themselves the Member for Lincoln.

I walk in the footsteps of a series of strong Labour women. Lincoln’s first female Member of Parliament was a titan of our movement, Margaret Beckett. Grafton House, Lincoln’s Labour club, was founded and sustained by the much-missed Leo. Margaret was succeeded by two other formidable Labour women, Gillian Merron and Karen Lee, both of whom continue to serve our movement in local and national Government. I am honoured to succeed them.

I would like to pay tribute, too, to my immediate predecessor, Karl MᶜCartney, who also loved the city. He dedicated himself particularly to improving local transport provision. He pressed forward with relief roads for the city, and I now take up that cause too. Lincoln is a beautiful, historic, young and dynamic city, but we are far from other major urban centres and, indeed, from any of my hon. Friends on these Benches. We need a public transport network that reflects that relative geographical isolation, and I hope to work with colleagues across the House to make sure that Lincoln and Lincolnshire get the transport network they need. Right hon. and hon. Members may not yet be sick of hearing me talk about the urgent necessity to upgrade the Lincoln to Newark line, one of the slowest in the country, but I assure them that they will be.

All of us elected to serve our communities will of course be seeking the support that they deserve, as I also intend to in relation to the cost of living, healthcare and housing, but I also want to pause to pay tribute to the service my city has done for this country. That service snakes back even further than my predecessors. Over 1,000 years ago, in 1217, England seemed almost lost. French forces loyal to Prince Louis had taken most of England, and even the majority of Lincoln herself. It was only our castle, led by a woman in her mid-sixties, Nicola de la Haye, the constable of Lincoln castle, who survived months of bitter siege warfare, that finally repelled the invaders at the battle of Lincoln, securing the city and saving England.

Hundreds of years later, Lincoln and her workers again sprang to the defence of this country. In the chaos of the first world war, facing mechanised industrial-scale warfare of the most horrifying kind, Lincoln invented the tank. We produced one in 14 of all Royal Air Force planes at Ruston, and the working people of Lincoln delivered to this country the equipment and people needed to prevail against the odds. On these Benches, and in this movement, we never forget that.

Lincoln’s connection with the RAF has never since dimmed, and less than a decade later young men, including my grandfather, trained to fly at the RAF stations surrounding our city. To this day we are proud to continue to host RAF Waddington, one of the most important RAF bases. At this moment RAF Waddington and its brave men and women protect this country and this House, as does Sobraon barracks in uphill Lincoln. I am proud of their service, and I will be a champion for them and their families for as long as I am in this place.

As for so many of my constituents, public service took me far from home, and I was surprised and honoured to be asked to return to the Foreign Office shortly after my election to this place. I know that my constituents expect me to do my duty there, as they do at Waddington and across the world. It is an honour to join the Government, but before I speak from the Front Benches on Government business, I wish to send a message to my constituents: I am first and foremost the Member for Lincoln—for the city and Bracebridge, Waddington and Skellingthorpe; for the schools and two universities; for the barracks and the airbase; for the hospital, cathedral and castle; for our copy of Magna Carta; for the independent shops of the bail; for Sincil Bank and the parks of Boultham and Hartsholme; and for the Gillies, the Ermine, Birchwood and Steep Hill. This is the honour of my life, and our city on a hill will be my first and last priority for as long as you send me here.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I now call Patrick Spencer to make his maiden speech.

[Patrick Spencer (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)]

It is an honour to rise to make my first formal contribution as a Member of this House, and I start by congratulating you on your election, Madam Deputy Speaker, and on taking your seat in the Chair.

I also start with a slight admission of honesty. Since arriving here, I have been nervous and anxious about making my maiden speech—we might even say that I delayed making my maiden speech for fear that my new colleagues were superb orators who would go on to make excellent speeches. I am happy to admit that that fear came to pass: there have been some superb speeches over the past couple of days. Even today, I pay tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) and for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson), and the hon. Members for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray), for Cardiff West (Mr Barros- Curtis), for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan), for Glasgow South (Gordon McKee), for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart), for Lincoln (Hamish Falconer), and of course my neighbour, the hon. Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott), whose great speech did justice to that town. I thank him for his kind words. He is no longer here, so I will stop the niceties there.

I am in the fortunate position of having been sent to this place to represent a constituency and a people that have played a huge role in my life. My grandfather grew up in east London before moving to Essex to raise a family. It was in the 1980s, after retirement and with my grandmother Mary, that he made that all-too-familiar trip up the A12 to settle just 20 minutes outside Ipswich. My earliest and happiest childhood memories were spent falling in love with a country and a countryside that I still call home today, and a county and a people I am now humbled to represent in this place.

Shock horror, Madam Deputy Speaker: I think Central Suffolk and North Ipswich is blessed with some of the most beautiful countryside in England, but it is the history of the area that makes it unique. The Anglo-Saxon King Raedwald was one of the richest and most powerful of his era. Consequently, Suffolk has become a treasure trove for archaeologists for nearly a century. My neighbour the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Jenny Riddell-Carpenter) can boast of Sutton Hoo, but on my far-eastern border, just last year a 1,400-year-old pre-Christian temple was discovered. Experts can trace back human activity in the area almost 6,000 years. I am fortunate to have the beautiful market town of Framlingham in my patch. It is home to Framlingham castle, a former seat of the famous Howard family, and St Michael’s church, which contains the tombs of Tudor royalty and nobility, and which I love to take my two children to see. I also have Helmingham hall in my constituency, which has unbelievably hosted both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Elizabeth II.

It is unsurprising, given our ancient, lush and beautiful landscape, that we have a rich history of producing great artists who are inspired by those surroundings. Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, Benjamin Britten and even Brian Eno and Ed Sheeran, to name a few, are all products of our wonderful county in some way or another. I am afraid to say that this child of Suffolk was not blessed with the same artistic talent.

The other great contribution that I have always felt that Suffolk makes to our country is in food and drink. I have been told by my wife that it is certainly a domain in which I have more expertise and experience. Central Suffolk and North Ipswich is home to Aspall cider, manufactured for almost 300 years from apple trees in the grounds of Aspall hall. It is now one of the most recognisable brands in the global drinks market, exporting products to customers around the world. It is a great example of global success by a home-grown British business. We are great exporters of not only cider but sausages, spuds, chocolate and condiments. It is not uncommon to find Suffolk produce in shops across the country. It is for that reason that I have in the past, and will now in this place, support initiatives like that of my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) that give consumers in this country the opportunity to buy produce from producers in this country.

The Suffolk farming and agricultural community are such an important part of our local society, and they are also emblematic of our local culture and identity, with their no-nonsense attitude to hard work, love for family and community, complete and utter ambivalence to the weather, and deep affection for our natural environment. I am sure that all Members have their bias, but I am of the firm belief that the people of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are the finest our country has to offer.

While I hope to be a voice primarily for the people of Suffolk and Ipswich, I hope to use my time in this place to speak up for another cause. In a previous life, before entering this place, I worked under my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) at the Centre for Social Justice, and then as an adviser in the Department for Education. In that time, I realised that the Conservative party and conservativism have a proud story to tell on the critical issue of helping those who need help—on offering the most vulnerable in our society not just a handout but a leg up, and on standing up for what is just and fair in society. More than anything, they are about giving people the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

I count the wards of Whitton, Whitehouse and Castle Hill as part of my patch. Whitton and Whitehouse are two of the most deprived wards in our country. Castle Hill is probably one of the most unequal. By any measure, Ipswich is, like its football team, a huge success story, but large parts of it, including many families living in Whitehouse, Whitton and Castle Hill, have been left behind. The story is all too familiar: the failure to adapt in a post-industrial economy; generations of low-wage work, if not worklessness; the proliferation of crime; and high levels of immigration that have caused a degree of social polarisation. For however long the people of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich want me to represent them, I will fight in this place to empower those people who feel left behind, those who want to get on in life, and those who want to, and can, reach their potential. At a time when faith and trust in politics is at an all-time low among those who feel locked out of our economy and our society, there is no more pressing cause than ensuring that Britain works for everyone.

Today, we are debating the merits of allowing MPs to have a second job. Time and again on the doorstep during the election, and across dining tables for many years, I have heard from people—rich and poor, young and old, left and right—that they have lost faith in politicians doing the right thing. Believe it or not, the NHS, immigration, jobs, incomes and access to homes were all hugely important to the voters at this general election, but the most important thing to the people across my constituency—from Whitehouse to Whitton, Kesgrave to Claydon and Ringshall to Rendham—whether they voted for me or not, was restoring a sense of moral probity and public spiritedness to our political system. As we embark on this debate and others in this place, let us keep that in mind.

Before I finish, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Dr Dan Poulter. He was as dedicated a servant to the people of Suffolk and Ipswich as ever there was, both an MP and in his second job as a consultant doctor. He used his invaluable NHS experience when he was a junior Minister in the Department of Health, and when he was on the draft Bill Committee reviewing the Mental Health Act 1983 for the first time in 40 years. We felt the benefits of his healthcare expertise in Suffolk when he managed to save Hertismere hospital, which was previously in my constituency and is now in neighbouring Waveney Valley, and when he lobbied the Government for a new accident and emergency wing for Ipswich general hospital.

As many people know, Dr Dan arrived in this House as a Member of my party and left as a Member of another, but I do not feel any ill will, for another political hero of mine, Winston Churchill, performed a similar journey over 120 years ago. I do not mind saying it here, Madam Deputy Speaker: I, too, hope one day to cross the Floor. Before I give my Whips a heart attack, I should add: not to swap political allegiances, but as part of a Conservative party elected back into government, taking our place on the Government Benches. That was a Whip-issued line.

In the meantime, though, I would like to thank my wife and my two little boys, Leo and Jasper, who I am sure are watching on BBC Parliament right now. I also thank the Doorkeepers and the Clerks. I also want to thank my mother, who has been a real trouper to sit through a nearly 3.5-hour debate. She looks brighter now than she did when I put her in a polling station as a teller. As I was saying, I look forward to working with Members from across the House in the pursuit of delivering for the people of this great nation.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I intend to start the Front-Bench wind-ups at 4.40 pm, but I call Stella Creasy.

[Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. In the very short time available to me, let me say, after so many glorious maiden speeches, that I hope that this place can rise to the occasion, in terms of what we do on this Modernisation Committee. The truth is that we do not have any rights as MPs, yet we come here to defend the rights of our constituents. That will matter, because this should be a modern workplace, safe not just for us, but for our staff, and accessible not just for us, but for anybody who comes to see us; and it should not be a place that leads us to divorce, drink, and all the other things that new Members of Parliament may have been warned about.

In one minute, let me tell the House what I think we could do through the Committee to redress the situation and give us some rights. If hon. Members employ young women here, somebody will take them out for a drink to warn them about this place and the people that they should be aware of, but that is not good enough. We must enforce the findings of the Paul Kernaghan review, and we must ensure that where people face bullying and sexual harassment, there is no unfairness, no favour and no political interference, because, sadly, no political party can hold its head up on that score.

We must learn from other jurisdictions around the world, including New Zealand, Australia and Ireland, about making this place family-friendly. That is not just about having a workplace crèche, but about holiday clubs, and knowing what time we will leave here and get home. No one in this place will enjoy doing bedtime via FaceTime, but unless we reform this place to make it family-friendly, that is the future ahead of all hon. Members and their families.

Let me turn to the gender-sensitive Parliament review that we signed up to in the Kigali accord. We must make that happen, not just for the women in this place, but for all the women and men to come. There are so many things that we can do through this Modernisation Committee, which is a welcome development, but the test will be whether we do them. I urge all hon. Members, new and old, to make sure that happens.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

Let me say how impressed I am by all the maiden speeches that we have heard this afternoon, in particular that of the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Patrick Spencer), who talked about the importance of restoring moral probity—a relevant subject for today’s debate. It is good to hear that he heard that subject raised on many doorsteps during the election campaign; so did I. It was good that he referred to his predecessor, Dan Poulter, who was an example to many people in this place. He used his experience in another job—I will not say a second job—to inform debate and make sure that things said in this House were based on experience and knowledge that can only be found through the personal experience of professionals like him.

As Members of Parliament, we are fortunate to have one of the most satisfying jobs in the world. There should be no such thing as a safe seat, some kind of sinecure; the job of MP ought to be earned through hard work and dedication. The public put their trust in each of us to be their champion and their voice. The Liberal Democrats welcome this debate on the code of conduct, and in particular the fact that it will examine second jobs. The primary focus of all Members must be on serving those people who elected us and put us here. In recent years we have seen a series of scandals that have weakened people’s trust in politics and politicians, and I welcome the fact that the Modernisation Committee will seek to restore some of that trust.

Aside from the scandals of the sorts referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain), there are a tiny number of MPs who are really quite absent. I want to illustrate the problem with one of the more egregious examples—the case of the right hon. and learned Member for Torridge and Tavistock (Sir Geoffrey Cox), who is not in his place, but whom I notified that I planned to refer to him. He is a former Attorney General and a very eminent barrister with a high-profile career outside this place. It was revealed that, in 2021, he had earned more than £1 million in a single year, including by representing tax havens in the Caribbean. However, he was absent from parliamentary votes because of this outside work, and in one case even voted by proxy from 4,000 miles away.

Between 2023 and 2024, the right hon. and learned Member declared more than £836,000 of external earnings for 500 hours of work—the equivalent of 66 full days’ work—while having contributed to just four debates in the whole of 2023. In the whole of the last Parliament, he contributed to just 20 debates here in the Commons. Looking at Hansard, that included a contribution to just one debate in 2020 and one debate in 2021, and there is no record of him having contributed to a debate in 18 months. That is in stark contrast to what we heard about Dr Dan Poulter. It is not a party political point. Dan Poulter contributed to 124 debates in the last Parliament and made some significant contributions with his experience as a mental health doctor. The hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) is a Labour MP and a doctor who puts in shifts in accident and emergency, not just to keep up her medical qualification but because that enlightens the House and informs the legislation that we debate here.

No, I am taking issue with that very, very small number of MPs who give the rest of us a bad name by earning huge sums of money for the hours of work they put in outside of this place in what is, frankly, their first job, not their second. They and we must remember that our principal employer is the voting public in those areas that we represent. Being elected as an MP is a massive privilege. It is a role that we should strive to do our very utmost to fulfil. We must work night and day to repay the trust that is put in us by voters. The Modernisation Committee should ensure that we are focused first and foremost on our jobs here.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Leader of the House.

[Chris Philp]

Congratulations on your election, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulated one of your colleagues at the beginning, so let me add my congratulations to you on your election to the Chair.

Let me start by saying a huge congratulations and well done to the Members on both sides making some very impressive maiden speeches today. The hon. Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott)—I am struggling to see him in the Chamber—listed all the premier league grounds he intends to visit now that his team are in the premier league. He did not mention Selhurst Park, the home of Crystal Palace in the borough I represent in Parliament—an accidental omission, I am sure.

My hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) made an excellent maiden speech. I wish him good luck with the upcoming house move. He very wisely observed that he does not plan to place any political bets anytime soon. The hon. Member for Telford (Shaun Davies) gave an excellent speech. He clearly brings to the House experience as a former chair of the Local Government Association. There is certainly no need for him to experience any imposter syndrome.

We heard from the hon. Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray), who spoke extremely eloquently about his constituency and the Edinburgh festival. We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) about his support for the modernisation of Parliament and his commitment to public service here. We heard from the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Mr Barros-Curtis), who made an excellent and very eloquent speech. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge) will clearly bring to bear her experience as a former deputy headteacher. The hon. Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan) has possibly one of the narrowest majorities in Parliament, which he will no doubt be valiantly defending. We also heard from the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Gordon McKee).

The hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) paid fulsome tribute to the work of her predecessor, Andrew Stunell. The hon. Member for Lincoln (Hamish Falconer) has already assumed ministerial office. In fact, I can see his red ministerial folder on his knees— a meteoric ascent. My hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Patrick Spencer) is apparently going to be the new Ed Sheeran of Parliament—that is what I took from his speech, anyway—and his mum is with us today. I did speak to a Labour Member whose mum was also here during her maiden speech a few days ago. Apparently, her mum fell asleep during the preceding speeches. You can take that how you will. [Laughter.]

Having congratulated new Members on their really brilliant maiden speeches, let me turn back to the substance before us. My hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa) spoke eloquently about the importance of ensuring that we take on board the long expertise of the existing House Committees, in particular the Standards Committee, which the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) also referred to at the beginning from the Liberal Democrat Front Bench. The Standards Committee is elected by the House, not appointed by Whips, as the new Committee will be, and has seven lay members who bring in external experience, including, as I said earlier, a retired chief constable and others who bring genuine independence and expertise. It is vital that we continue to draw on the independence and experience of the Standards Committee.

These are complicated issues. We heard from the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord), winding up for the Liberal Democrats just a moment ago, how experience of practising medicine can help to enrich debates and inform the proceedings of the House, as Dan Poulter did when he was both a Member of Parliament and a practising doctor. Such considerations need to be carefully considered.

I am very much hoping—I might even go so far as to say “expecting”—that the Leader of the House will give the House some assurances in her winding-up speech. In particular, I seek assurances that the Procedure Committee, the Committee on Standards, the Committee of Privileges and the Administration Committee will always be invited to report to the Modernisation Committee on matters that it is due to consider; that the Speaker will always be consulted; that the work of the Modernisation Committee will not cut across what the House of Commons Commission does; and that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards will be invited to make submissions and give evidence where appropriate or necessary. If the Leader of the House can give strong enough such assurances about how the Committee will function, as well as an assurance that she will chair it on the basis of cross-party consensus, I am prepared not to move my amendments. I therefore wait with trembling and eager anticipation to hear what she says.

I am sure I speak for us all when I say that it is critical that we maintain standards at the very highest level here, to ensure that the public—our constituents—can have confidence in the work we do.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Leader of the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lucy Powell]

On the whole, yes; that is the intention and the hope. Some of those Committees do not yet have Chairs, but that is certainly the modus operandi for which we are hoping. We do not expect to be doing that work ourselves, or duplicating it.

The Standards Committee, which was raised earlier, has a completely distinct and different role because of the relationship with the lay members and with the Standards Commissioner. As I have said to the Leader of the House privately—I am sorry; I mean the shadow Leader of the House. [Laughter.] I am still getting used to this gig. As I have said to the shadow Leader, I sought the advice of the Standards Commissioner when considering how we would tighten the rules on paid advocacy, and I have followed his advice to the letter, because I think this is critical. The Standards Commissioner would not want to sit on the Committee because it would conflict with his role, but I see his role as being central to the drawing up of any further advice, because he has to police it—that is his job. I hope that satisfies the shadow Leader of the House.

The hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) and I have worked closely together, and I greatly value her input on these issues. I think that we largely agree on most of them. We do need to take forward the recommendations on the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme review, and that would be a first task for the Committee.

My hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) made an erudite speech, as usual, about trust and cleaning up politics, and I thank him for his contribution. That is very much what we are seeking to do. The hon. Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa) has done invaluable work on this matter in the past in his role as a member of the Standards Committee. As I have said, I am very conscious of the work that the lay members do and the need for that to play a separate role in this context, but, as the hon. Gentleman will know, the landscape review pointed clearly to the need for a more strategic, joined-up approach to some of these issues. The hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns), as a newbie, presented some welcome ideas. She reflects the enthusiasm of many other newbies and, I think, the frustration of many of them as well.

I listened to the speech of the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) from outside the Chamber. I really do value her contribution to this debate, and I look forward to working with her. I would love to have her on the Committee, but I am hopeful that we can find a way for that ongoing relationship to be meaningful and regular, and that she will be able to contribute some of the ideas that she mentioned today in a more formal manner. My hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), in a very short space of time, gave some very good advice about the implications for safety and human resources on the estate, and she was right to do so. We did not hear many comments on second jobs, but I think we all agree that we need to take action in that regard, and I am glad to see the extent of the cross-party support for such action.

I hope we will not divide the House on these issues, because I think it important for us to stand together today. We have seen plenty of enthusiasm and support, and I hope that Members will now support the motion.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That, with effect from 25 October 2024, paragraph 2 of Chapter 4 of the Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members be amended to leave out:

“a) advice on public policy and current affairs;

b) advice in general terms about how Parliament works; and”.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

We now come to motion 5, relating to a Modernisation Committee. I remind the House that Mr Speaker has selected amendments (b), (c), (d) and (e), as listed on the Order Paper. If amendment (b) is defeated, amendments (c) and (d) automatically fall, and I will not call anyone to move them. I call the Minister to move the motion formally.

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That—

(1) There shall be a Select Committee, to be called the Modernisation Committee, to consider reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices; and to make recommendations thereon;

(2) The Committee shall consist of not more than 14 Members, of which 4 will be the quorum of the Committee;

(3) Members shall be nominated to the Committee by a motion in the name of the Leader of the House;

(4) Unless the House otherwise orders, each Member nominated to the Committee shall continue to be a member of it for the remainder of the Parliament;

(5) The Committee shall have power to send for persons, papers and records; to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of the House; to adjourn from place to place; to report from time to time; and to appoint specialist advisers either to supply information which is not readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the Committee’s order of reference;

(6) That this Order be a Standing Order of the House until the end of the present Parliament.—(Lucy Powell.)

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Amendment (b) has been selected. I call Chris Philp.

[Chris Philp]

On the basis of the assurances given by the Leader of the House, I will not move the amendment.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

As amendment (b) has not been moved, I will not call amendments (c) and (d), but I will call amendment (e).

[Chris Philp]

On the basis of the Leader of the House’s assurances, I will not move the amendment.

Question put and agreed to.