First newly elected MP officially takes her seat in Parliament

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Alliance’s Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood is the first newly elected MP to officially take her seat in Parliament for the first time, after she jumped the queue to swear in.

On Tuesday, MPs started the process of making an oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Crown, which is typically done in order of when they were first elected.

The allegiance is a legal requirement and MPs are not allowed to speak in debates, vote or receive their salary until they do so – the same applies to peers in the House of Lords.

Despite speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle stating that he did not expect to call MPs from the 2024 intake until Wednesday, he waved some newbies through to the chamber to swear in for the first time.

Ms Eastwood chose to take the oath on the Bible and said: “I swear by almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.”

Earlier in the day, after Sir Lindsay had been re-elected as speaker, Ms Eastwood, who represents the Langan Valley, said her presence in the chamber demonstrates a “changing” and “integrating” Northern Ireland.

The new Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Adam Jogee, also managed to jump the queue, choosing to affirm his allegiance to the Crown.

The date and time MPs are sworn in is important when determining their seniority and when assessing who becomes Father of the House and Mother of the House.

Conservative Sir Edward Leigh is the new Father of the House and Labour’s Diane Abbott is Mother of the House, given they have the longest record of continuous service.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) has served for the same length of time as Sir Edward, but he was sworn in moments before Mr Corbyn after the June 1983 election, meaning the Gainsborough MP received the title.

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty was the first MP of this Parliament to take his oath in Welsh, and Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives Andrew George was the first to do his in Cornish.

SDLP MPs Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna were among those to make clear they were affirming allegiance to the King in order to do their job as MPs.