Rayner says Labour would ban MPs having second jobs with certain exceptions

Speaking to BBC One’s “The Andrew Marr Show” this morning, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said that in government the Labour Party would “ban second jobs” to avoid the present abuse of the system. But Rayner also said there would be exceptions, arguing that an MP working as an A&E doctor is “good public service”.

“What we wouldn’t have”, Rayner said, “is people getting loans like we’ve seen with Jacob Rees-Mogg, where he’s got 6 million on a really small interest rate”.

Rayner said that the ongoing “sleaze” row “has undermined our democracy” and that “this Prime Minister has allowed corruption and sleaze to enter our politics”.

Asked about Labour leader Keir Starmer advising the Government of Gibraltar as an MP, Rayner said: “Me and Keir have been absolutely crystal clear on this and our manifesto has been consistently clear on this since 2015, that we would ban paid consultancy and directorships and lobbyists.”

She added: “I do not accept the premise that what Geoffrey Cox was doing, advising a tax haven which is described by the Government as corrupt and using his office to do that, in any way, shape or form the same as Keir Starmer doing some legal work when he was first an MP, that is not the same.”

She went on: “We’ve said that we’d set up a commission for integrity and ethics to make sure that it’s fit for purpose so that we’re always working in the interests of the British public”.

“Sleaze after sleaze, corruption after corruption, we’ve got to end this now because it really undermines public trust and confidence in our Government”.