ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Parliament has become a “boiling pot of mental ill health”, senior MPs have warned.

Education Committee chair Rob Halfon said “Brexit madness” has seized stressed ministers and pushed them to the verge of collapse.

“It feels like the Commons is having a collective breakdown - a cross between Lord of the Flies and One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest,” Mr Halfon, a former Tory minister, told the Sun.

“People are behaving in ways that were unimaginable even just a year ago, whether they be Remainers, Leavers or in-betweens. The Brexit madness has affected us all”.

The UK is caught in a political deadlock as ministers argue out the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU, which has been delayed from the original exit date of March 29.

His comments follow an email sent by Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to all MPs, in which he encouraged his colleagues “to access the support that is available and to look after each other.”

“Members of Parliament, Parliamentary staff and House employees are all human and it is vital that in times of heightened stress in the workplace we can access the necessary health and well being support,” Mr Lindsay wrote in his message on Thursday.

“Members of Parliament and staff are resilient but Brexit has meant we are all working very long hours for extended periods of time whilst facing extraordinary pressure.

“In order to fulfil our duties and do our work on behalf of constituents we must take care of our health and well being,” he added, reminding MPs of Westminster’s mental health services, including a confidential 24 hour counselling phone line.

A male MP was allegedly reduced to tears after finding out he won't be able to go home to see his children next week, due to the impending cancellation of the Easter recess.

Speaking of his distress, a female MP told the Sun:“This place is a boiling pot of mental ill health”.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox also discussed MPs’ struggle to cope during the crisis.

“It frays tempers particularly at a time when we need to come together to discuss problems cross party and across tribal divisions and its undesirable to have as many Members of Parliament who look so tired as they are,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast.

Mr Cox said he was currently reading poetry to “order his thoughts”.