Janet Daby: I was made to feel as if I did not belong

A Labour MP has revealed she is still waiting for the outcome of a racism and sexism complaint she made nearly three years ago.

Janet Daby said the alleged incident in 2018 made her feel as though she "did not belong here".

Her case is "yet to be resolved," she told MPs through a video link.

A spokesperson for Parliament told the BBC that they could not comment on individual cases.

Ms Daby said she felt targeted "because of my gender as well as my ethnicity" and she asked if this meant tackling racism was a priority for the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS).

She said the encounter took place when she was "relatively new to this House". Ms Daby was elected as the Labour member of Parliament for Lewisham East in June 2018 in a by-election.

The ICGS scheme was introduced in 2018, following allegations of bullying and harassment in Parliament.

Then Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said the new code would make sure everyone "is respected and valued" and would introduce "effective sanctions" for those breaking the rules.

The rules made clear there was a "zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct", she stated.

In her speech, Ms Daby highlighted a 2019 report from ParliREACH, Parliament's equalities network, which she said showed "the scale of difficulties that people from diverse backgrounds face".

Staff working in the Commons, she said, "reported having their presence questioned and equal opportunities denied. ParliREACH said that many of its members were reluctant to speak up when they felt discriminated against".

This, she said, was mainly because staff were worried about being seen to "call the race card".

In February, an 18 month review into how well the ICGS was functioning was completed, and found "much progress" had been made, but raised concerns of operation and process, as well as equal access for diverse groups.

Ms Daby was speaking at a debate for changing the rules on reporting complaints to the Parliamentary Authorities.

Under the new rules, complaints will only be able to be made up to a year after alleged incidents happen, although this time limit does not apply to complaints of sexual misconduct.

A spokesperson for the Houses of Parliament said "this is not something we can comment on", but they added that Ms Daby's complaint was not being handled as an ICGS case, but was being dealt with "under a separate internal process".