Disgraced MP Rob Roberts urged to 'do the decent thing' and resign following sexual misconduct

The MP was suspended for six weeks after the damning report found he breached sexual misconduct rules Credit: House of Commons

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg and shadow leader Thangan Debbonaire have called again for disgraced MP Rob Roberts to step down following his suspension for breaching sexual misconduct rules.

The Delyn MP is suspended for six weeks after an independent report found he had made repeated advances towards a member of staff.

The report said the politician had made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature and was overly intrusive about the man's personal life.

Responding to the panel, he said last year, he had been in a "challenging place personally," having ended his marriage of 15 years and also coming out as gay.

In addition to being suspended, Mr Roberts also lost the Conservative Party whip which means he sits as an Independent member and not as a member of the Tory group of MPs. 

Thangam Debbonaire reiterated her call for Rob Roberts to resign Credit: Parliament TV

Speaking during business questions on Thursday, Ms Debbonaire said: "I thank the leader for working constructively with me on repairing the inconsistency between the independent complaints and grievance process and the Parliamentary Standards Committee for triggering recall for MPs.

"I hope that the member currently suspended recognises that these changes would have applied to him, and given that his constituents can't currently remove him, he should do the decent thing by staff and members and the public and resign."

Jacob Rees-Mogg later said: "I agree with (Ms Debbonaire) about the member for Delyn, who is currently suspended.

"As I said before, I think that a member in such a situation ought to resign, I would not criticise his constituents for feeling that somebody who had been found guilty of something so serious was not an ideal representative."

Earlier this month, Ms Debbonaire raised concerns that staff are "worried" about Mr Roberts' return.

"A member who has been sexually harassing staff will return to Parliament within weeks and shows no signs of resigning.

"Staff are worried, constituents have every right to be concerned."

Mr Rees-Mogg also previously said that it would be "honourable" for Mr Roberts to step down "following a case of this severity".

The motion to suspend Mr Roberts from the Commons was approved on May 27.

The sanction was proposed by the panel set up in 2020 to deal with cases raised under the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.