Lee Anderson’s place on the Home Affairs Select Committee is to be taken by a fellow Nottinghamshire MP. Anderson is being replaced on the committee as his switch to Reform UK means that he is no longer eligible for the place, which is allocated to the Conservative Party.
“I have enjoyed my two years on this committee where I have been able to ask some soul searching questions to public servants who are supposed to be at the top of their game”, Anderson said on X. “I have never held back as these people need to be held to account.
“I know the Home Office officials did not care for my line of questions and neither did the Met Police. But this is politics and when the larger parties make a decision to remove a single party member like myself from a committee then there is little I can do.
“I would’ve liked to have stayed on the committee but with the Home Office once again due to be scrutinised before this committee then I’m probably the last person they want asking questions in the run up to an election.”
Anderson promised that he “will continue to speak out from the opposition benches and through the media.”
A motion to replace Anderson with the MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith, is due to be tabled on the floor of the House of Commons on Tuesday (14 May).
The Home Affairs Committee is one of 19 Select Committees that scrutinise the work of specific government departments. A further 10 Select Committee operate thematically; and seven concentrate on the work of the House of Commons.
In recent months, the Home Affairs Select Committee has spent much of its time looking into asylum and immigration issues. It is also preparing reports in the fire and rescue services, fraud and non-contact sexual offences.
The membership allocation of each select committee is agreed by senior party officials and is proportionate to the political makeup of the House of Commons. The Conservatives are allocated six places on the Home Affairs Select Committee. The others are taken up by three Labour members, one Scottish National Party member and one independent MP. The independent member is Diane Abbott, who sits as an independent MP because, while still being a member of the Labour Party, has had the whip suspended following a letter she wrote to The Observer in April 2023.