‘ Suboptimal’ Rees- Mogg urged to quit by MP who ‘ can’t do job’
A YORKSHIRE MP has branded Jacob Rees- Mogg “suboptimal” and called for him to resign.
Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman was participating in a parliamentary debate over MPs taking part in Commons business virtually.
Mr Sheerman, 80, who has been shielding for a number of months, said Mr Rees- Mogg, who is the Leader of the House, was “suboptimal. He added: “My responsibility, my key and prime duty, is to my constituents. He [ Mr Rees- Mogg] is the man that’s stopping me serving as a full member of parliament.”
But Mr Rees- Mogg said he did not share Mr Sheerman’s view.
It comes after Mr Rees- Mogg announced that the Government plans to extend virtual participation in debates to extremely vulnerable MPs, but those who had previously been shielding purely due to their age would not be included in that group. Conservative Mr Rees- Mogg told the Commons yesterday: “In last week’s business questions, [ Tracey Crouch] made a brave and moving appeal to be able to contribute more to our proceedings through virtual participation. This followed the appeals of a number of other members.
“While my understanding is that capacity constraints prevent us from extending Westminster Hall debates to members participating virtually, [ Ms Crouch] has certainly convinced me that we should seek to do more to support additional virtual participation in the Commons chamber.
“I have therefore decided that in line with the Government advice that the clinically extremely vulnerable should not go into work, we should work with the House authorities to find a solution.
“I am exploring how we can support additional virtual participation in the Commons, despite capacity constraints, for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and aim to bring forward a motion before the House.”
But Mr Sheerman, who is not extremely clinically vulnerable, said: “I’m a long- serving Member of Parliament, and active parliamentarian who so much wants to be back in the chamber doing the job that I’ve been doing for over 40 years.”