LABOUR MP WANTS IT BOATH WAYS

New man adds call for abolition of monarchy

A LABOUR MP yesterday called for the monarchy to be abolished … then swore allegiance to the Queen.

Richard Burgon, newly elected to represent East Leeds, joined other MPs who have to swear an oath, or a nonreligious affirmation, in order to take their seats.

But he added his own introduction to his affirmation, highlighting his republicanism.

He said: “As someone who believes that the head of state should be elected, I make this oath in order to serve my constituents.”

Meanwhile, new SNP MP Hannah Bardell was sworn in twice in the Commons after she left out the Queen’s title in her oath of loyalty.

Livingston MP Bardell had to retake the oath after mistakenly omitting the word “Queen”.

Her Glasgow East colleague Natalie McGarry appeared to disown her oath soon after making it.

She tweeted: “As long as in your heart and your head you believe sovereignty lies with the people, doesn’t matter what comes out your mouth.”

She later deleted the tweet and explained: “I will keep my oath to respect the Parliament, but I am a republican. It’s not a secret.”

The majority of the recordbreaking contingent of 56 SNP MPs were sworn in yesterday, with many preferring a non-religious affirmation over an oath on a holy book.

Among the new intake of MPs, Drew Hendry, Carol Monaghan, Chris Law, Deidre Brock and John Nicolson took the oath in Gaelic as well as English.

SNP MPs Phi lippa Whitford, Richard Arkless and Marion Fellows spoke in Scots while Ochil and South Perthshire MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh swore her oath on the Koran. LIKE any new job, becoming an MP means going through a lot of formalities – some necessary and important, others less so.

The Commons staff have been absolutely fantastic and incredibly helpful, particularly in advising me and the rest of the SNP team on getting offices opened in our constituencies and getting the best service possible in place for our constituents as soon as possible.

But some of the other aspects of Westminster life are not so positive.

Being told off for clapping in the chamber by a Tory MP who wanted staff to wait in line behind MPs in the Commons canteen was unexpected, if not surprising, given the physical barriers that exist between MPs and staff in some areas of the parliamentary estate.

And the “traditions” of some elected members leave a lot to be desired.

Take something you might have seen in the headlines in the last few days – seating arrangements.

It’s daft that we have a House of Commons that can only seat 400-odd people with more than 600 MPs.

And that means compromise between parties and MPs about who sits where.

With a mandate from the people of Scotland as the second opposition party at Westminster, we’ve said we want the chamber to reflect that.

But Labour have seemed hell-bent on preserving more “tradition” at the expense of holding the Tories to account.

And, for the record, Dennis Skinner is not being targeted by us.

It perhaps says more about them that while my colleague Brendan O’Hara was asking real questions of the Ministry of Defence about serious allegations about security around Trident and Faslane, Labour were bleating about seating arrangements.

Meanwhile I am working hard on the real task that all 59 of us have – representing our constituents.

Regardless of party

We want to talk about nuclear risk .. Labour are bleating about the seating

politics, being an MP means advocating on behalf of those left behind by the system who need our help.

I’m already holding surgeries in Glasgow East and speaking to the community groups who do so much work week after week, such as the Glasgow Girls football team who made their way through to the next round of the Scottish Cup, or the mental health facility helping people get back to health.

Tonight I’ll be back in Glasgow, my adopted city.

It’ll be good to be back.