Closed petition Independent oversight of standards and sanctions for MPs

Closed on 6 November 2019

The behaviour of some MPs is a disgrace. The current process with the Commissioner and Standards Committee is ineffective, with few incidents referred. Publicly evidenced incidents that would result in members of the general public losing their jobs are not referred, and are ignored in MPs.

Parliament must agree to an independent panel of 10 public service leaders (such as heads, Drs, police) meeting to set the standards regime, including financial irregularity, lying, or racist, sexist, homophobic, abusive, violent, discriminatory, anti-social or anti-Semitic behaviour, must in line with others in public office (e.g. heads). They should also act as a watchdog to the Commissioner/Standards Committee, ensuring incidents are reported, and publicly witnessed poor behaviour is not avoided from action.