New And Old Labour MPs Clash Over Rule Changes
3 min read
The row among Labour MPs over proposed changes to the rulebook of the Parliamentary Labour Party has led to a flare-up in tensions between the 2024 intake of MPs and their more long-standing colleagues, PoliticsHome understands.
Some Labour MPs have complained to their party after the PLP Office tried to push through rulebook changes on Monday, which was a one-line whip day shortly before parliamentary recess. A one-lip whip means MPs are not required to be in Parliament.
The changes included a new rule that could see MPs be subject to a disciplinary process if they do not comply with the requirement to “be an active campaigner within your constituency and deliver on key targets as agreed with your regional office / national party office”, as reported by LabourList.
PoliticsHome understands that another one of the rule changes put forward is the removal of annual elections for parliamentary committee reps. If successful in making the change after recess, the amended standing orders would allow only for these reps to be elected at the start of a parliament, rather than every year.
While the annual elections are not typically hotly contested, the move has prompted concern among MPs from older intakes.
All six PLP committee reps who were most recently elected are from the 2024 intake of MPs: Polly Billington, Adam Jogee, Emma Foody, Satvir Kaur, Zubir Ahmed and Gareth Snell. (Snell is not strictly new to the Commons, having been an MP from 2017 to 2019.)
These reps meet each week with the Prime Minister, Chief Whip and Commons Leader, as well as the Labour Party chair, general secretary and other senior figures, to raise the thoughts and feelings of fellow backbenchers.
But critical MPs have complained that the reps had been prepared to accept the rule changes without a fight.
A left-wing backbench Labour MP elected before 2024 said: “Parliamentary committee should be annual elections – they’re trying to change it to a whole parliament. Six parliamentary committee reps have just nodded through changes to standing orders and the code of conduct without engagement with us.”
Another unhappy backbench Labour MP, a veteran of the Commons, said: “Democracy works if you can get rid of the people you’ve elected. But if you elect people as your parliamentary rep for the life of the parliament, you’ve got no chance of getting rid of them before the electorate potentially gets rid of them.”
“If we are to have accountability for this cohort,” they added, referring to the 2024 intake of MPs, “we must have the ability to get rid of the reps.”
