AN MP has called for the rats to be cleared out of the House of Commons.

But Anne McIntosh has been told a cat cannot be introduced into the chamber to kill the rats and mice.

The Shadow Minister for Education wanted to introduce a cat but was told it was a risk under hygiene rules.

The Conservative MP for the Vale of York said she had been told her request as being refused because a cat would get too close to the food.

"So it's all right for the mice to get near the food, but not the cat," she is reported to have said afterwards.

She said she had seen mice in the Commons tea room and in a Westminster cafe.

On one occasion her husband opened his briefcase in a Commons cafe near to where a mouse had been feasting. When he opened it later a mouse leapt out.

The invasion of mice has been blamed on structural changes to the press gallery.

However the infestation of mice and rats in the Commons is not new. Six years ago a small brown mouse attended a debate on a bill to allow members of the Irish Parliament to stand for election to Westminster. The creature joined the opposition benches. One mouse even stole the thunder from Winston Churchill during a Commons speech.