Rishi Sunak has been urged to push through new rules to block anyone convicted of a sexual offence from standing to be an MP before the next election.
At least six MPs have lost their seats because of alleged sexual misconduct since the 2019 general election, and 10 MPs have been suspended from their parties pending investigations.
While all political parties have their own procedures for vetting MP hopefuls, politicians and unions believe formal rules to block relevant candidates will make it easier to “weed out the bad apples”.
A former minister told the Guardian: “I can’t believe this has to become formal policy, but history shows how bad the working environment in Westminster has become for this to be needed. Working standards for people on the estate are at a pretty low bar.”
The Prospect union said Sunak should introduce the measures before the next election, as well as accelerating the timetable in risk-based exclusion measures. “If they won’t, Labour should do so as a matter of urgency if they win the next general election,” said Mike Clancy, general secretary of the union.
It comes as the Scottish parliament is expected to vote through rules to bar anyone convicted of a sexual offence and subject to a restriction order from standing to be an MSP or as a councillor.
Ministers in Edinburgh published plans last year to cover council elections and said they believed it was logical to extend these controls to candidates for Holyrood, which has 129 MSPs, at the same time.
Like councillors, MSPs were in a position of power and authority and often dealt with vulnerable constituents, an official briefing paper said. The controls are due to be included in the new Scottish elections (representation and reform) bill introduced last month.
“The roots of this move are grounded in both protecting the public in personal encounters with elected representatives and also a more general reputational concern based on trust and confidence,” the briefing paper said.
While no MSP at Holyrood has been jailed for sexual offences, and none have been prosecuted, there have been a series of controversies over sexual misconduct by MSPs, with some losing ministerial posts.
Scottish ministers point out the current rules allow people to stand for Holyrood if they were jailed for less than a year: that could allow some sex offenders to do so. The rules for council elections are tougher, barring anyone with a sentence of three months or greater standing for election.
A ban on sex offenders standing in council elections, including mayoral elections, came into force across England in 2022 and Wales in 2021, when a similar ban on sex offenders standing for the Senedd in Cardiff came into force.
There is no specific bar on sex offenders standing for councils in Northern Ireland, other than a blanket ban on anyone with recent prison sentences of three months or more. No specific bar is in place for Stormont elections as its elections are governed by Westminster and are similar to those for the Commons.
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In December, the House of Commons commission published proposals for a “risk-based exclusion policy” to bar MPs who have been arrested for violent or sexual offences from coming on to the parliamentary estate.
But there is no policy that stops anyone convicted of a sexual offence from becoming an MP.
Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “Constituents should have the same protections in relation to MPs as they would any other elected representative, across the whole of the UK. It is the least that constituents should be able to expect, but it’s quite astonishing it isn’t in place already.”
The Liberal Democrats said they would “carefully consider proposals in this area, including bringing the rules for parliamentary candidates in line with those that exist already for those standing to be local councillors”.
Labour has not clarified if it would roll out such measures in government, if the Conservatives fail to do so. But Lucy Powell, the shadow Commons leader, said “the government should stop dragging their feet and do so without delay” in rolling out a risk-based exclusions policy.
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