Parmjit Dhanda is Labour MP for Gloucester
Parliament is in crisis. Many MPs feel we need to make radical changes to
reassert the values of our democracy and to restore the public's faith in
its representatives. I'm one of those MPs.
This is a unique opportunity to reform Parliament. To do so, the next Speaker
will need to be someone who will work to shift power away from the Executive
and from Parliament and place it firmly back in the hands of the people.
Only then can we begin to put behind us the destruction of public confidence
over MPs' allowances. It's too late for evolution; it's time for us to be
brave. I believe that if we firmly shift the pendulum of power back to the
public they are more likely to put their trust in MPs again. To achieve
these changes we will need a Speaker who is comfortable in, and able to
communicate with, modern Britain.
I think he or she will need to do three key things. First, take Parliament out
of Westminster. We need to give ownership of Parliament to the people. Hence
ministers, Shadow ministers and whips will need to relinquish their control
of the parliamentary agenda. Through new technology such as internet polling
the public should choose the issues for “topical debate”. And instead of
poorly attended debates lacking atmosphere in Westminster Hall, Parliament
should relocate ministers and the entire apparatus for debates to town halls
around the country. A day of adjournment debates on local issues in the
regions would be top billing in regional media and give us the chance to
draw crowds to parliamentary proceedings.
Second, Parliament needs to reflect modern Britain. The next Speaker needs to
do much more than preside over committees and proceedings in the chamber. In
a more public way than ever, the Speaker will be the interface between
Parliament and modern Britain, championing the role of MPs and encouraging
greater public participation.
But to truly change the settlement in favour of the public, MPs will have to
change too. At the current rate of progress Parliament will still not be
representative of Britain's racial, gender or class mix in the next 100
years. The Speaker must push political parties to make changes, through law,
to catalyse these changes over one term, not 100 years. Surely the Speaker's
job is to make Parliament more representative of society and to articulate
how it will be done?
Just one example of Parliament's abject failure to move with the times is that
the Palace of Westminster still does not have even rudimentary crèche
facilities. And then we leave MPs to face the music when they take it upon
themselves to use the archaic allowances system to come up with alternative
child care provision. Parliament not only stitches them up at the outset, it
then hangs them out to dry afterwards. That's not a defence of those that
abuse the system, but an acceptance of how far removed from reality the
system has become.
Finally, Mr or Madam Speaker needs to change the balance of power to create a
more relaxed executive, a stronger Parliament. As politicians we need to
accept that we are living in changing times. It's time for us politicians us
to be more deferential towards the public. The British public want to see
the Executive loosen its grip. At present party whips don't just influence
membership and chairs of our committees; they even decide which MPs deserve
a nice office. Parliament should elect its chairmen, and all of the
administrative matters (including allowances) should be entirely independent
of politicians.
In the current set up it is inevitable that there will be a large element of
Buggins' turn and a closed shop mentality, partly because our upper chamber
is still full of political appointments and hereditary peers. Parliament is
in danger of being left behind while the world moves on, so the next Speaker
needs to be brave and play a leadership role in championing reform of the
House of Lords.
Whichever candidate comes forward with a radical agenda encompassing these
principles of reform will have the support of the public.
Sir Alan Haselhurst is Conservative MP for Saffron Walden and a Deputy
Speaker
In no other Parliament in the world is the Speaker assigned such an impartial
role as happens at Westminster. He has no other priority than to serve the
interests of the House. Even without radical change the Speaker from the
chair can set the tone. Enforcement of short questions and concise answers
can achieve greater inclusivity for Members. Through use of the Speaker's
discretion over urgent questions and emergency debates more topicality can
be injected into the order paper.
Yet the Speaker's powers are limited. It is a matter entirely for MPs whether
they should be increased. I argue that Members could rely more on their
Speaker and give him more oversight of the House's business. I would be
proactive in examining these possibilities designed to make Parliament more
in step with the expectations of the people we serve.
A party given a mandate by the electorate rightly expects to be able to
implement its legislative programme. Yet where the executive dominates the
legislature there is a special role for the Speaker in protecting minority
interests and also rights and opportunities for all backbenchers. Never
having been a minister, whip or frontbencher spokesman I have a strong feel
for this.
It is right, therefore, to look for ways in which a better balance can be
achieved between competing interests. There must be more opportunities to
hold the Government to account. By the same token the House as a whole must
have more of a say in determining the order of its business. Better scrutiny
is a paramount aim. Copying established practice with the Finance Bill,
detailed examination of the most important parts of Bills could be done on
the floor of the House.
Being the servant of the House, not its master, the Speaker has no power to
impose his own measures. All the party leaders are now proposing reform. My
job would be to engage actively with them to achieve consensus on a way
forward to revitalise the Commons.
Externally, too, the Speaker has opportunities to talk positively about
Parliament and the work of MPs. After a damaging period this is urgently
necessary. The solid commitment of Members to the democratic process needs
to be better explained and extolled.
The House has accepted the need to reform the allowance system. A start has
been made; how it proceeds will be influenced by the recommendations of Sir
Christopher Kelly's Committee on Standards in Public Life. I see the
Speaker's role as trying to ensure that what is agreed strikes a fair
balance between rewarding the hard work and responsibilities of MPs and
satisfying the public that a clear and accountable remuneration package is
in place.
At a time when big changes are afoot, my experience could significantly
benefit the House. I believe I have demonstrated my ability to control the
House in a totally impartial manner. But what finally matters, if a Speaker
is to be effective, is that he must be able to command support across the
whole House. I hope that my 12 years as Deputy Speaker stand me in good
stead in both respects.
Sir Patrick Cormack is Conservative MP for South Staffordshire
We need a Speaker who can unite the House and be fearlessly impartial. But
being impartial is not enough. The Speaker must be able to stand up to an
Executive, however powerful, and to ensure that minority voices are always
heard. In the light of recent Prime Ministerial announcements we have to
remember that to further the interests of the executive or, for that matter,
the executive-in-waiting, is not necessarily in the interests of the House.
The Speaker is, first and foremost, the servant of the House, but the new
Speaker has a particular challenge. To convince a sceptical public of the
importance of parliamentary democracy in general, and of the institution of
Parliament in particular, I would be anxious to travel to all parts of the
UK and I would want to make the Speaker's residence a place where MPs and
people from all walks of life could meet.
Having been one of the founders of the unique Visiting Parliamentary
Fellowships at St Antony's College, Oxford, I also know the importance of
building bridges between politics and academic, professional and commercial
life, and between science and the arts. I know, too, how crucial it is to
engage the young and I would institute a system of Speaker's scholarships
(or internships, to use the American phrase) whereby a group of young people
could spend time each year in Parliament learning, at first hand, how it
works and why.
I have become ever more conscious that Parliament is failing in its prime
purpose of holding the Executive to account; failing to ensure that
legislation is thoroughly scrutinised and examined. My first initiative,
therefore, would be to call a Speaker's conference, advised by leading
academics and constitutionalists to look at the way the responsibilities of
the legislature and executive are balanced, at the manner in which
legislation is scrutinised and at how the Commons chamber can once again
become the focus of national debate.
These are turbulent times. Parliament's image has been tarnished by the way in
which some Members have interpreted the rules over payment of expenses and
allowances. It will be the duty of the new Speaker to ensure that after Sir
Christopher Kelly has reported new rules on expenses and allowances are
rigorously enforced. But those new rules must not punish retrospectively
those who have behaved responsibly according to the old ones, nor should
they inhibit men and women of limited means from aspiring to become MPs.
I have always worked closely with colleagues in all parties and have, I hope,
shown an independence of mind on issues as different as the poll tax, the
abolition of the GLC and Bosnia. I believe that I could bring to the
Speaker's role a true impartiality, founded on a passionate belief in
parliamentary democracy, and on a deep love of the Commons.
That does not mean that I favour tradition above change. It is quite clear,
for example, that we have to look at the way issues are debated in
Parliament, and the time given to them. We should look too at how other
legislatures divide their time between plenary session and committee work so
that they do not clash or overlap in the way that they do here. That would
be a task for the Speaker's Conference.
I have just turned 70 and so I have made it clear to my colleagues that it
would be my intention to retire by the time I am 75, and to time my
retirement so that a Parliament that knew all the potential successors could
have a chance to elect a new Speaker before a general election.
