Ban MPs accused of sexual offences from Parliament during police investigations, says union

A union is calling for MPs accused of sexual offences to be banned from parliament during police investigations.

It comes after a Tory MP arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault offences spanning seven years was asked to stay away from parliament but did not have the whip suspended.

Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, which represents a number of parliamentary workers, said the voluntary arrangement is “inadequate”.

He told the BBC: “We think parliament should embody the highest standards and now all too regularly it’s being called into question.

“We’ve been saying for some time that parliament needs to ensure it has standards because it is, after all, a workplace that conform with workplaces up and down the country.

“And in particular it is inadequate that MPs are just asked to stay away if an issue of this importance, sensitivity and magnitude arises and that it should be capable of requiring them to stay away.

“Employer policies that we deal with, unions are well versed in dealing with these issues with sophisticated employers, often embody precautionary suspension.

“It doesn’t judge the merits of the case, but ensures that those involved in the complaints and in particular those who may be the victim, are properly protected.

“This is a workplace parliament, and it needs to be safe for people to go to work.”

Mr Clancy said his union had written to parliament’s procedure committee to ask them to look into the issue, but the proposal had been rejected.

He later added: “Parliament needs to stop presenting itself as totally unique because it looks detached.

“People know what’s right and wrong in the workplace and they know when these things come up they need to be dealt with in an appropriate way.”

The unnamed Conservative politician was arrested on Tuesday after the Metropolitan Police received a report in January 2020 relating to alleged sexual offences committed in London between 2002 and 2009.

He has been released on bail until a date in mid-June pending further enquiries.

Tory chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris urged the MP to stay away from Parliament but has not suspended the whip, meaning the suspect remains a member of the parliamentary party.

It is understood the Conservatives will not make a decision on whether the suspect has the whip suspended until after the police investigation is concluded.

Shadow home office minister Jess Phillips said there is a “gap in the process” at Westminster which in her view favours those accused of wrongdoing over the safeguarding of others.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “There is just a gap in the process here that currently, in my view, favours ... the individual who is accused, charged or convicted against the balance of the safeguarding and safety of the other 6,000 people who work here and in fact their constituents as well.

“The reality is ... the Speaker of the House of Commons can only ask this person not to come here. That’s it.

“The system of honour in Parliament is at a sort of fault line, it seems, when at the moment so many of the things that we rely on, just relying on people’s good nature, it simply isn’t good enough, is it?”

She said if she were a constituent, she may feel she had a “right to know” if such allegations concerned her MP, but warned against “trial by media”.

Additional reporting by Press Association