The new Commons Speaker, John Bercow, is poised to scrap the age-old practice of addressing MPs by the title “honourable member” in a move that will anger traditionalists.

In future, MPs will be referred to by their first name and surname to help to make the sometimes baffling proceedings of parliament more intelligible to the public.

The proposal is likely to be resisted by many MPs who believe the tradition of not identifying colleagues by name can prevent political arguments in the chamber from descending into personal abuse.

It will also raise concern among the Westminster classes that the voters will link the Bercow plan to the expenses scandal, which led to MPs being accused of behaving dishonourably.

Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark, said that while he backed “sensible” modernisation, “the phrase ‘honourable member’ reminds people of what we are meant to be and there are advantages in that”.

An internal report by Robert Rogers, the clerk of legislation and one of the Speaker’s most senior officials, lays out the reasons for ending the practice which pre-dates the first verbatim accounts of parliament 150 years ago. It says that “allowing members to refer to each other as Mrs Smith, John Jones, etc” would make proceedings more intelligible “without reducing necessary formality”.

Supporters of the plan say that the current system makes it harder for television viewers to understand who is speaking and alienates the public from their elected representatives.

An earlier round of reforms in the late 1990s ended embellishments such as referring to MPs who served as military officers as “gallant members” or those who were barristers as “learned members”.

It is still the practice for members of the privy council to be identified as “right honourable” while, less commonly, MPs who also have aristocratic titles are called the “noble lord, the member for . . .”. It is understood that debates will still be conducted through the chair and the pronoun “you” will still be regarded as unparliamentary language.

Bercow, 46, a Tory, replaced Michael Martin last month to become one of the youngest Speakers in history. He has already come under fire for deciding to abandon the traditional Speaker’s uniform in favour of a lounge suit and academic gown.

Senior members of staff in the Commons fear Bercow is considering foisting a new uniform on the doorkeepers who guard the Commons chamber. At present they wear a traditional white bow tie and tails. There are also rumours that Bercow plans to end the Speaker’s procession which marks the start of each parliamentary day. However, both suggestions have been denied by the Speaker’s office.

Bercow is understood be to consulting on a number of constitutional reforms such as making it a criminal offence to refuse a summons to appear before a select committee and giving the Speaker powers to recall parliament in times of national emergency.

He is also looking at ways of banning ministers from making statements to the House if their plans had already been leaked to the media.

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