Green MP Hannah Spencer hits out at MPs for drinking on the job in Westminster

"You can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes."

Speaking with PoliticsJOE, the winner of the recent Gorton and Denton constituency byelection slammed the boozing culture that she was shocked to find in Parliament.

"I'm really uneasy about it - I noticed this the other day," Spencer explained, "you can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes".

She continued: "There's a room where I walk past and I doubled back and looked in because people are just sat having a drink.

"But again, that's a job. I can't imagine if a cleaner did that or someone working in a bank had a few drinks and then went back to work a bit smelling of alcohol - that wouldn't happen."

Spencer went on to to note the "questionable and dangerous behaviour allegedly from MPs with staff" due to a "culture of a really unprofessional and worrying setting where people can just drink alcohol while they're in work.

"Life doesn't work like that."

Spencer used this example to highlight just how out of touch Westminster is with the rest of the country.

She said "That is what I find very out of touch about that place, it's things like that that. 

"I just think the vast majority of us that have come from backgrounds of normal jobs - that's not how the world works. 

"So why does it work in somewhere where arguably the most important decisions get made?"

Spencer's comments have not gone unnoticed, with a number of MPs hitting back at the accusations while Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage has also weighed in.

Luke Charters, Labour MP for York Outer, hit back on X as he wrote: "Breaking news: MPs are human and sometimes have a drink. Classic clickbait farming

"MPs work long days for constituents, and yes, sometimes share a drink in the evening with colleagues. Last week I was scandalously spotted with… an alcohol-free pint or two between votes.

"But sure, let’s talk about that instead of the Greens’ wacky policies. Trying to distract us, maybe?

Meanwhile Nigel Farage also hit back. He wrote: "The Greens are happy to legalise heroin and crack, but now we learn they think an afternoon pint is a step too far. Make it make sense."