MPs tasked with modernising parliament are divided over family-friendly hours, with some favouring shorter days to return home to their children and others hoping for shorter periods away from their constituencies.
Working hours will be one of a number of areas examined by the House of Commons modernisation committee, as well as driving up standards and culture and methods of voting in parliament.
The divide has opened up a key difference among many new MPs – many of whom have young families – between those raising their children in London and those whose main home is their constituency outside the capital.
MPs whose children are within commuting distance from London would prefer parliament’s sitting hours to start and finish earlier so that they can return home in time to see their children.
But those whose children are based in constituencies farther away would prefer longer sitting hours earlier in the week so they can return to do their constituency business for half of the week.
MPs have formed a “Mums and Dads” WhatsApp group to discuss concerns relating to parenting young children while commuting to parliament. A number of the new intake are also expected to push strongly for a more relaxed approach to remote voting, in order to make parliament more compatible with family and constituency life.
The House of Commons leader, Lucy Powell, is understood to be very conscious of providing a pastoral role to many of the new MPs, concerned about the high rates of relationship breakdown that can occur.
Some MPs – especially those who won their seats unexpectedly or were selected in the last-minute rush before the July election – are said to be feeling the pressure of not having adequately prepared their families for the drastic change in lifestyle that comes with commuting to a role many hours away from home for half of the week.
Powell launched a call for submissions last week for topics for the committee to consider, saying the reputation of the Commons had been “tarnished” in recent years by scandals involving MPs and said the committee would be examining how to “raise standards, improve working practices and culture and make House of Commons procedures more effective”.
Some veteran MPs have historically opposed any change to parliament’s working hours to make it more family-friendly, or to any flexibility around maternity and paternity leave. MPs are entitled to take family leave but there are complications over how their roles can be fulfilled in their absence and in practice it often relies on the discretion of the whips’ office.
The Conservatives were criticised this year for nominating Christopher Chope to sit on the modernisation committee, despite being the subject of a number of controversies. Chope later was widely condemned for comments he made about the Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch, saying he was backing her rival Robert Jenrick because Badenoch was “preoccupied with her own children”.
A government source said: “There are some really big issues on MPs’ outside interests, complaints and culture that the committee is already taking forward.
“Parliament has long debated sitting hours and what is best for one isn’t good for others. Sitting hours have to balance the needs of MPs across the country. Many of the new MPs have their families outside London and want to sit longer over fewer days to be able to get back to their constituencies, for example.
“What’s most important is that time in parliament is impactful, effective, and that MPs can better plan with more certainty.”
