12 December 2023 , 12:52
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Westminster’s top sleaze buster has received a thousand complaints about MPs’ comments on social media and hundreds over their language in the Commons.
Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg told how his office was contacted by people upset about words spoken in Parliament and posted online by elected politicians. The watchdog told the Commons Standards Committee: “Up to date in this calendar year, just over 1,200 complaints were received about language or actions taken in the Chamber. That’s an example of something which I never investigate … that is absolutely outside my remit.”
Rulings on MPs’ behaviour and comments inside the Chamber are matters for Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his deputies Dame Eleanor Lang, Nigel Evans and Dame Rosie Winterton. Mr Greenberg, who investigates complaints and allegations on issues such as declarations of financial interests and some misconduct claims, said when he receives complaints about remarks made in the Commons, he sends a letter telling the complainant: “Not for me.”
He added: “But they will get a letter back that doesn’t just say, ‘Go away’. We’ve looked very hard at the correspondence we send to members of the public when they send in complaints that are outside our remit, which is a lot. We will give them our reason very carefully. We will also, where relevant, tell them where they ought to be going.
“But we will also sometimes draw their attention to some of the wider, more general work that is going on in relation to what they’re talking about. For example, I will draw their attention, if they're complaining about views and opinions including social media - that's another thousand of the complaints - saying, ‘Yep, we’re not going to investigate because the Commissioner should not generally interfere in how Members of Parliament deal with their constituents, handle their complaints and express their views’.
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“It will then say, ‘But this is something I’ve discussed with the Committee, it’s something I've explored in my annual report and it’s something Mr Speaker has discussed. We try to give them as much help as possible.”