UK : Paintings in Parliament should be more diverse, say Labour MPs

London : Paintings on display in Parliament should be more diverse, a group of Labour MPs have told a commission set up by the Government.

Eight backbenchers are expected to put forward a series of recommendations that also include tighter curbs on selling alcohol on the premises.

The group includes former shadow ministers Stella Creasy and Dr Rosena Allin-Khan as well as Beccy Cooper, the MP for Worthing West.

They will put their suggestions to the Commons modernisation committee, a new panel of 14 MPs that has been tasked with reforming House procedures.

Ms Cooper told PoliticsHome: “Westminster is a changing place, with more women MPs, people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

“It would be great to see this change increasingly represented in the artwork around the estate, providing encouragement and inspiration for future generations of politicians.”

Ms Cooper, who was elected in July, added that while it was a privilege to work in Westminster, she and her colleagues wanted to suggest changes to how it operated.

Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire during his first few months in office after taking down portraits of Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh and Margaret Thatcher.

The paintings were displayed in Downing Street under previous governments, but have been replaced with landscape artwork at the request of the Prime Minister.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, last month replaced a portrait of Nigel Lawson, one of Thatcher’s chancellors, with a picture of Ellen Wilkinson.

Wilkinson, a former Labour education minister, was among the founding members of the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Other recommendations to be tabled by the Labour MPs include curbs on the availability of alcohol sold at outlets including Strangers’ Bar, particularly during work hours.

The group is also expected to urge the modernisation committee to look at addressing ventilation in Parliament and creating natural light in the building.

Greater access to green spaces and enshrined regular breaks for parliamentary staff could be among further demands made by the Labour backbenchers, PoliticsHome reported.

The group’s proposals were ridiculed on Monday by critics who suggested they were out of touch with the concerns of their constituents.

Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Dear me. The quality of our current crop of politicians.

“How about these MPs spend their time fixing the backlog of driving tests, or any of the other dozens of issues they were elected by their constituents to solve?”

Steven Barrett, a commercial barrister and writer, added: “We appear to have elected a bunch of controlling, authoritarian loons.”

The modernisation committee is taking feedback until just before Christmas from MPs and others in the parliamentary community on what changes they would like to see made.

The committee is chaired by Lucy Powell, the Leader of the House of Commons.

Ms Powell has already tasked officials with looking into media appearances by politicians in a push to increase public trust in politicians and remove perceived conflicts of interest.

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, and Lee Anderson, the party’s chief whip, both present shows on GB News, which Mr Farage has warned could be affected by her work.

Mr Farage, who also writes columns for The Telegraph, said in September: “I don’t see any conflicts of interest whatsoever. In fact, I might make an argument t