Paterson affair offers chance to clear air on MPs having second jobs
AS I am sure people are aware, there has been much coverage and criticism of what’s been going on in parliament lately.
There was first the suspension of Owen Paterson following his involvement in Covid contracts, and then the subsequent controversy over MPs’ second jobs.
As one of the co-chairs of the APPG on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, I take these issues very seriously and I have done my fair share of time looking at how Government procurement works during my time on the Public Accounts Committee.
I think we need to be generous in spirit to the situation the Government found themselves in last Spring but we are 18 months on from this and there are questions that need answering.
The Government needs to publish everything they feasibly can and be clear as to what happened and why. The only way we will move on from these issues and clear the stench, which I am sure is unfounded, is transparency.
I have thought for a long while that the rules surrounding second jobs needs to change and in some ways it is welcome that the events of the past fortnight have brought the need upon us. I said in the chamber that I support new rules for MPs regarding second jobs but that the
Government needed to be careful when they draw up the rules, ensuring they are clear, consistent and enforceable.
A complete ban on second jobs would be quite hard, and attempting to create a list of good and bad occupations would only create controversy and loopholes. It will be interesting to see the proposals that the committee brings forward and I hope my colleagues will support them when they do.
I am hoping this week’s progress in public standards and second jobs can help to renew faith and trust in parliament, in MPs and in the work that we do to represent our constituents. Throughout my time as an MP, I have supported the HS2 “Y” route linking the East Midlands with London, Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds. The East Midlands has one of the slowest mainline services and has suffered from a lack of infrastructure investment.
HS2 was a way of addressing this, speeding up journey times and adding new capacity – not only to
London but also north and eastwest to Birmingham. Proposed stations at Toton and Chesterfield provided significant opportunities for regeneration and job creation. The project has never been certain, with more reviews than I can recall culminating with the Integrated Rail Plan that has made substantial changes. The “Y” will now run as far as East Midlands Parkway (not Toton) with direct services continuing to Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield on the current mainline. This will be electrified all the way to Sheffield. These proposals have advantages compared to the original HS2, including direct services to Nottingham and Derby, which should enable easier connection to stations in Amber Valley. The electrification of the mainline is long overdue. The announcement isn’t all bad news and may deliver a more joined-up railway at a lower cost – but still feels like a slap in the face to the East Midlands, which had previously been promised electrification only to see that scrapped. We now need to see equivalent funding for Derbyshire infrastructure and that’s what I’ll be pressing for.
I hope progress in standards and second jobs can help to renew faith and trust in parliament and MPs