Following the cash-for-questions revelations last week concerning two former Home Secretaries, Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw, the Labour Party has announced that no sitting Labour MP will be able to take a paid directorship or consultancy from May 7.
IF elected to Government on May 7, Labour will move to extend the ban to MPs of all parties.
Ed Miliband MP, leader of the Labour Party, said: “We must rebuild public trust in politics — the integrity of our democracy depends on it. But the Tories are trying to block our reforms. Today at PMQs, I asked David Cameron six times if he’d act to end MPs having second jobs. Six times, he refused to say he would.”
Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, Nancy Platts, has emphasised that her only remuneration will be her parliamentary salary should she be elected on May 7.
She said: “I’ll be working for my constituents and no one else.”
“My sole professional interest will be the concerns of my constituents and I view any divided financial loyalties as a betrayal of the voting public. I have not accepted, nor will I ever accept, any such inducements.”
“The reputation of politicians sits badly enough already, and will only improve if we remove any suspicion that MPs are working in their own interests as well as those of their constituents.
“In the past day or two, Conservative politicians Lord Heseltine and Sir Malcolm Rifkind have publicly declared that MPs have plenty of time to pursue paid outside employment. I completely reject such an idea. It is outrageous to suggest that there isn’t always plenty for a hard-working constituency MP to do.”