Three cabinet ministers are among more than 50 lawmakers reportedly facing charges of sexual assault after being referred to a parliamentary oversight body.
A total of 56 lawmakers – including two shadow cabinet ministers – have reported to the Independent Complaints and Complaints Scheme (ICGS), according to the Sunday Times.
ICGS, which is believed to handle 70 separate complaints from 2018, was set up after the #MeToo movement and after lawmakers including Sir Michael Fallon and Charlie Elfik faced a number of charges of dirt and sexual misconduct.
The 56 deputies have not been named. It is believed that at least one of the complaints addressed to the observer was related to a crime.
It comes just over a week after Imran Ahmad Khan, a notorious former Conservative MP, resigned after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008, sparking a by-election at his Yorkshire headquarters in Wakefield. . Khan appealed the sentence.
Tory MP David Warburton also removed the whip earlier this month after a series of allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use. He denied the allegations and insisted he had “a huge amount of protection”.
Complaints against Warburton, a married father of two and an MP for Somerton and Fromm, are believed to be being assessed by the ICGS.
The FDA union, which represents civil servants, said it was time to “look again” at labor relations between lawmakers and their staff, while Labor MP Jess Phillips, the shadow minister for domestic violence and protection, called on the mayor, Sir Lindsay Hoyle to convene a committee of MPs and experts to address the “imbalance of power” in parliament.
A government spokesman told the Sunday Times: “We take all allegations of this nature very seriously and will encourage anyone who has any allegations to contact the relevant authorities.”
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