Cryer: wasted hours

Parliament's only mother and son team have hit out at House of Commons traditions that prevent them speaking in key debates.

Labour MPs Ann and John Cryer told a Blackpool fringe meeting that despite spending "hours" sitting on the green benches, they were frequently limited to just a few minutes' contribution at the end of important debates.

Sharing a platform at a Socialist Campaign Group meeting with fellow backbenchers David Taylor, Kelvin Hopkins and John McDonnell, the Keighley MP Ann Cryer noted that all had been first elected to parliament in 1997.

"What that means is we are well down in the pecking order, so that in a big debate as happened last Tuesday [on Iraq] when I think most of us would have liked to have spoken, none of us were called," she said.

"There is a very strict pecking order in parliament and those who were elected in 1997 are right at the bottom."

Her son, Hornchurch MP John Cryer, said the official line that the hierarchical system in parliament had been abolished was "absolute cobblers".

"You call the Privy Councillors first, more senior ones next, the less senior ones next and the people from 1997 and 2001 either don't get called or get called for the last five minutes at the end," he explained.

He joked with the audience: "That's just a bit of personal bile that I wanted to get off my chest after spending all those hours sat there."