‘Arcane’ parliament needs a huge kick up backside, says new MP

PARLIAMENT’S CULTURE is “arcane” and the sooner it “gets a huge big kick up the backside and a good shake up the better”, according to the SNP’s newest MP.

David Linden said he was determined to “move some of the furniture about a wee bit” after becoming MP for Glasgow East following Theresa May’s snap election in 2017.

He argued the Palace of Westminster’s refurbishment offers a chance to move out of the “Westminster bubble”, with the current site turned into a museum and a new “modest” parliament developed in the Midlands.

The MP also voiced his frustration at the late sitting hours of the Commons, the knock on impact on staff and the tactic of filibustering which he claimed was “just an absolute nonsensical way of running a legislature”.

The 27-year-old said: “I’ve never been in an institution where it is commonplace for folk to drink very late into the evening and hurl abuse at each other in a debating environment.”

He added: “I think you either settle into this place and just become part of the furniture or you try and move some of the furniture about a wee bit and I would prefer to do the latter.”

Mr Linden left school at 16 and did not go to university, later becoming a research assistant. On the restoration of Parliament, he said: “I would be quite happy for the place to be turned into a museum, I’d be quite happy for us to spend a lot less on building a modest new parliament somewhere in the Midlands.”

Mr Linden added: “You can’t have absolutely everything just concentrated in this small corner of the UK. If you’re truly going to be a kingdom of equals then start spreading some of the jobs and power about a wee bit.”