Several MPs in Parliament before the last General Election considered taking their own lives due to the pressures of the role, a campaign group has said.
Concern for the wellbeing of UK parliamentarians has grown in recent years, following the murders of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess.
The campaign ahead of the July 4 election also involved an ‘alarming rise in intimidation, harassment and abuse towards candidates, campaigners and volunteers from all parties’, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said shortly after the vote.
A new report from organisations 50:50 Parliament and Compassion in Politics focuses on the issue of MPs’ mental health and what could be done in the workplace to improve it.
The groups highlighted figures from former MP Elliot Colburn, who spoke at Prime Minister’s Questions earlier this year about his own experience of contemplating suicide.
He said eight of his fellow MPs had been in touch with him following his speech to say they had felt a similar way due to the extreme pressures of the job.
Mr Colburn later confirmed to Metro that this number was accurate.
An unnamed MP and former Government minister is quoted in the new report saying: ‘It’s been the most extreme experience of my life. The highs are wonderful. The lows are miserable. There’s very little in between.
‘The collapse of public respect makes it an impossible job for the MP and their family. I had a nervous breakdown after my candidacy and again as a minister.’
A total of 24 ex-MPs took part in a survey for the report, among the 132 who left parliament at the last election.
It found that more than two-fifths believed parliament is worse than most other workplaces when it comes to standards of behaviour.
Among the recommendations made in the report are the establishment of an independent Human Resources function for the House of Commons and a return to the electronic voting system used over the Covid lockdowns.
It also calls for a consultation on the whipping system, after MPs including William Wragg of the Conservatives accused whips of resorting to ‘blackmail’ to get them to vote along the party line – an allegation refuted by Downing Street at the time.
Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd backed the new report, saying: ‘Anything which encourages further introspection on whether we have the balance right yet in Parliament, between tradition and functionality, between flexibility and rigour, and between government business and agency for all MPs – can only be a good thing.’
Mental health campaigner and former Labour director of communications Alastair Campbell said: ‘We have a new government whose election slogan was “Change” and nowhere is that more needed than in politics itself.
‘There are so many ways in which politics and Parliament can and should be modernised, and this report is an important contribution to the debate about what these changes should be.’
Current Labour MP Kim Leadbeater and former Green MP Caroline Lucas have also offered their support to the report.
Jennifer Nadel, the co-director of Compassion in Politics, described some of the procedures and practices in Westminster as ‘hopelessly out of date’.
She said: ‘This government has an extraordinary opportunity to re-set politics.
‘We need to significantly improve the working practices and culture at Westminster – for the benefit of MPs, staff, visitors, and those they serve.’
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
Their HOPELINE247 is open every day of the year, 24 hours a day. You can call 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org.
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