JACOB Rees-Mogg has said the House of Commons has spent "quite enough time" debating the standards of MPs and should focus on issues impacting their constituents. 

The leader of the House of Commons and North East Somerset MP said yesterday: "We have spent quite enough time, I think, discussing ourselves in this House in the last 10 days or so.

"It does seem to me, I go back to the Finance Bill, a bit of a concern that when we have a debate that could go to any hour on something that affects every single one of our constituents, affects their livelihoods, the opposition are too idle to turn up to debate it.

"But when we are talking about ourselves they want even more time to do a little bit of focusing on our own concerns."

Mr Rees-Mogg was responding to a call by the Scottish National Party (SNP) for two days of debate on "Government sleaze and corruption". 

Addressing Mr Rees-Mogg, SNP MP Pete Wishart, who represents Perth and North Perthshire, said in the Commons: "Can I congratulate the leader of the House? Congratulate him for actually still being here.

"He has defied every single rule and principle of political gravity by ensuring that this disastrous period of sleaze now goes into its third week."

He added: "We do need at least two days of debate on all the issues around Government sleaze and corruption, and we need to see the prime minister leading those debates."

On Wednesday evening, MPs backed the Government's plans to tighten rules around MPs' second jobs.

297 MPs voted in favour of the proposal with no votes counted against it.

The Government's amendment would order Parliament's standards committee to draw up recommendations by January 31 to prevent MPs from accepting paid work as a consultant. 

The plan would also see the committee put forward proposals to ensure "any outside activity undertaken by an MP" is within "reasonable limits and should not prevent them from fully carrying out their range of duties".

MPs voted down a similar motion from Labour, which also proposed that MPs vote on the committee's proposals after they are published. 

231 MPs voted for Labour's motion and 282 voted against it.

The debate on politicians holding second jobs emerged after MPs voted not to back the standards committee’s call for a six-week ban from Parliament for Owen Paterson after it was ruled that he repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials for two companies paying him more than £100,000 per year.

The Government later U-turned on its plans to overhaul the standards committee.

Boris Johnson reportedly told the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs he "crashed the car into the ditch" in the row over standards, adding: "I will get the car out of the ditch." 

Somerset County Gazette: DEBATE: Pete Wishart MP also brought up "cash for honours" in the House of Lords (Image: House of Lords/Roger Harris, PA Wire)DEBATE: Pete Wishart MP also brought up "cash for honours" in the House of Lords (Image: House of Lords/Roger Harris, PA Wire)

Yesterday, Mr Wishart also called for more Commons time to be spent on "cash for honours" in the House of Lords after he called for the Metropolitan Police to investigate it earlier this month.

He said the prime minister "all but conceded that doners are given a place in the House of Lords for the contributions" and "money buys you a place in the legislature which allows you to... determine and amend the laws of this country".

Mr Rees Mogg responded: "The idea that there is this huge public concern about the House of Lords, well he (Mr Wishart) must move in very different circles to those that we have in North East Somerset.

"The number of letters I received on reform of the House of Lords can be counted in single digits most years."