New Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules for Members of Parliament

On Monday 12 December, the House of Commons approved a new Code of Conduct for MPs with robust new measures to tighten lobbying rules, remove loopholes, and ban paid parliamentary advice. 

The Government backed the majority of a series of recommendations made earlier in the year by the Committee on Standards. The new Code of Conduct will come into force on 1 March 2023, but how did we get here? 

The Committee’s proposals

Following an extensive inquiry involving oral evidence and four separate but interlocking reports, the Committee on Standards published final recommendations in July 2022. The new package of reforms is designed to:

• improve transparency
• tighten the rules around lobbying and conflicts of interest in the House of Commons
• and make other improvements to the standards system. 

The report included a new Code of Conduct for MPs and an updated Guide to the Rules. 

The Committee published initial proposals in November 2021. Following consultation with experts, academics and MPs, the Committee made final recommendations for the House to consider. 

What is the Code of Conduct for MPs?

The Code of Conduct for MPs sets out the standards of behaviour expected of Members of Parliament. The Code applies to Members in all aspects of their public life.  

Alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct for MPs can be investigated by the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. If the Commissioner considers there has been a breach of the Code, they can, in less serious cases where the MP agrees, use the “rectification” process, or otherwise refer the matter to the Committee on Standards, who can recommend a range of sanctions depending on how serious the breach is.  

Why did the Code need updating?

The Committee seeks to review the Code every parliament. However, thanks to early general elections in 2017 and 2019, the most recent review of the Code was in 2015. 

The Committee suggested enhancements to the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules to ensure the rules maintain the confidence of the public and the MPs who must follow them.

Our package of reforms to tighten the rules around lobbying, transparency and conflicts of interest was carefully considered with the Committee taking evidence and consulting on it for more than a year.  

Among the recommendations included in the Committee’s report were:

1. Tighten up the lobbying rules

Tightening the lobbying rules so that MPs can neither initiate nor participate in proceedings or approaches to Ministers, other MPs or officials that seek to gain a material benefit for a client who has paid them or rewarded them in the last twelve months. 

2. Remove loopholes

Clarifying and tightening the criteria for the ‘serious wrong exemption’ in the lobbying rules to put an end to this being used as a loophole. The Committee is proposing that MPs using the “whistleblowing” exemption can’t make repeated approaches under this provision, and have to state at the outset that they are providing evidence of a serious wrong.  

3. Outside work 

Requiring MPs to have a written contract for any outside work, where the contract (or a formal letter) states that the MP cannot lobby for their employer or give paid parliamentary advice, and that their employer can’t ask them to do so. 

4. Paid Parliamentary advice 

Introducing an outright ban on paid parliamentary advice – being paid to advise on how to lobby Parliament. 

5. Improve transparency

Proposing that Ministers should register with the House benefits, whether or not they were received in their capacity as a Minister. It would mean that the public would be able to access all the information regarding a Member’s financial interests in one place in a timely fashion.

Which of the Committee’s recommendations were approved by the House?  

Following the Committee publishing its proposals, the Government  tabled motions for the House to debate the Committee’s recommendations for a refreshed Code of Conduct.  

The Government’s motions accepted the majority of the recommendations of the Committee, opting to not support one of the Committee’s recommendations about bespoke specific descriptors to the Nolan Principles of Public Life for MPs, and deciding against supporting one of the Committee’s recommendations to bring ministerial registrations in line with the requirement for all MPs to register gifts of a certain value on a monthly basis.

During the debate on the motions to approve the Committee’s recommendations, the Government also committed to moving towards a “system of reporting that provides the parity that the Committee on Standards is seeking on transparency and timeliness” with regards to ministers and MPs registering their respective gifts.  

The House already separately approved the Committee’s recommendations on an appeals process for the House’s standards system in October 2022.  

Following the House of Commons approving the Committee on Standards' proposals for a new refreshed Code of Conduct, the new Code will take effect from 1 March 2023.  

The Committee published its report on the Code of Conduct for MPs on 24 May 2021 

• Watch the debate on the Committee’s proposals on Parliament TV
• Read the Hansard of the debate on the Committee’s proposals  

Detailed information from the Committee's work on the Code of Conduct for MPs can be found on our website.

If you’re interested in our work, you can find out more on the House of Commons Committee on Standards website. You can also follow us on Twitter.

Find out more about the role of the Committee on Standards.

View the Committee’s  membership on its website.