House of Commons – Nov. 17, 2021 – 112

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the proposed words be there added. The House divided: Ayes 297, Noes 0. Amendment: I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to the end of the Question and add: “acknowledges recent concern over the outside interests of Members of Parliament;

believes the rules which apply to MPs must be up to date, effective and appropriately rigorous;

recalls the 2018 report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life into this matter;

believes that recommendations 1 and 10 in that report form the basis of a viable approach which could command the confidence of parliamentarians and the public;

believes that these recommendations should be taken forward;

and supports cross-party work, including that being done by the House’s Committee on Standards, to bring forward recommendations to update the Code of Conduct for MPs by 31 January 2022.” It is an honour to speak in this Opposition day debate today, and an honour indeed to follow the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire), who has been giving us an object lesson as to why people in glasshouses are best advised not to throw stones. It is always a privilege for any hon. or right hon. Member to speak in this House, at any time, on any day. We come here fully aware of the fundamental principle that lies at the heart of our parliamentary democracy: first and foremost, we work on behalf of our constituents. As Edmund Burke said in his address to the electors of Bristol in 1774, familiar territory to the hon. Lady—[Interruption.] No, I was not actually there, unfortunately: it would have a great pleasure to listen to Edmund Burke, such a distinguished figure in our history. He said that “parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole;

where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole.”