In 1957 he was appointed to the Public Accounts Committee. In the following year he conducted a month-long visit to St Helena on behalf of the Labour Party. Hughes was the first MP to visit the island since it was ceded to the British Government by the East India Company in 1843. Hughes submitted a highly critical report describing the "appalling poverty" of the island's inhabitants and assisted with the establishment of the island's first trade union. This visit established Hughes's reputation as a politician actively involved with the affairs of the Commonwealth.