Kitty Ussher, the junior Treasury minister who resigned from the government after denying expenses allegations, has today written an article for the Evening Standard saying she has decided to stand down from parliament because of the family-unfriendly hours.
The Labour MP for Burnley admits things are better than they used to be but asks if she is alone in wanting to see her young family in "that crucial gap between school ending and lights out?"
Since when have core working hours of 2.30pm-10pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, 11.30am to 7pm on Wednesdays and 10.30 till 6pm on Thursdays been family friendly, particularly if you consider that the voting often doesn't start till the end of each day and each vote lasts around 15 minutes? That question is too sensitive to be asked.
The sensitivity stems from the fact that most MPs' families live in constituencies far away from London, so the option of seeing loved ones before bedtime in the week does not arise.
Ussher concedes that those whose families live outside London "quite rightly, want to cram as much as possible into a few days at Westminster so that they can be reunited with their families swiftly."
But she asks whether it is really beyond the wit of man to devise a system that works for both?
If that shortens the working week, then let's meet for those extra days in the late summer when the schools have gone back but the party conferences haven't yet kicked off.
It's certainly not the worst idea in the world, given the criticism MPs have faced over the length of their holidays. The question is whether the new reforming Speaker will take heed?
