KINGSTON, Jamaica - The House of Representatives is expected to ban the wearing of jeans, mini-skirts and sleeveless clothing in the public gallery, as part of its first ruling on a dress code for people entering Gordon House.

The ban is likely to be extended to all sleeveless clothing, cropped pants, halter tops, tube tops, tank tops, T-shirts, slippers with thongs and ‘flip flops’. Women must wear clothing not exposing any body parts, or look indecent, and men must at least wear a buttoned shirt.

Members of Parliament and media personnel will be required to wear business suits and neckties, for the men, and a sleeved business dress or skirt suit of modest length or pant suit for the women. Students and members of the security forces must wear their uniforms.

The information was contained in a report from the House’s Standing Orders Committee, chaired by the Speaker, Michael Peart, and triggered by a motion tabled by Opposition MP, Everald Warmington, on February seventh.

Warmington had criticised the lack of a dress code for Gordon House, and its reliance on Sir Erskine May’s “Parliamentary Practice”, considered the “Bible” of Westminster practices in the UK, for guidance.

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