Should MPs be allowed second jobs? In the wake of last year’s Owen Paterson scandal, in which it was revealed the Tory MP had breached lobbying rules, there was a clamour to clamp down on Parliamentarians’ outside income. The Commons Standards Committee toyed with the idea of placing some restriction on the time MPs could spend on extra-Parliamentary employment, or on the amounts they earned from it. But now the Committee has decided against taking action. Voters will be unhappy, but this is a decision that should be welcomed.
Why? Because outside work by politicians is not a distraction to be avoided, as some more puritanical MPs have it. More often it’s something that usefully informs debate and Committee work. MPs can also hardly be expected to abandon businesses or law practices in exchange for a precarious life in Parliament. And in any case, if people are concerned about indolence or outside distractions, there seems no reason why the ballot-box should not be a perfectly adequate remedy for getting rid of errant MPs.
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