Theresa May has reacted to claims of harassment of staff by MPs by calling for new grievance procedures.

In a letter to Commons Speaker John Bercow, the PM said the current House of Commons disciplinary regime lacked “teeth” and needed to be reformed.

A mediation service should be set up for all MPs, regardless of their party, she said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ready to back the PM and establish “robust and effective” new rules.

In her letter to the speaker, Mrs May said she was concerned by reports of alleged mistreatment of parliamentary workers and was “determined to protect those staff who work for MPs”.

She said the current system for airing grievances was not fair on employees, many of whom were young and in their first job.

“I believe it is important that those who work in the House of Commons are treated properly and fairly – as would be expected in any modern workplace.”

She said she wanted to see contractually-binding grievance procedures, rather than the current system under which MPs were not bound by decisions from IPSA – the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority