Tag: parliamentary procedure

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The Speaker election row tells us two important things about parliament

On 26 March, its final sitting day, the House of Commons rejected government proposals to reform how the Speaker is elected at the start of the new parliament. Here Meg Russell reflects on what this teaches us about parliament, suggesting it holds two lessons. First, that the 2010 House of Commons was more resistant than its predecessors to government dominance; but second, that further reform is still needed to reduce that dominance.

Please note this blog piece was originally published on the Constitution Unit blog.

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Simpler language in Parliament must go hand in hand with simpler processes

By Louise Thompson

One of the key targets outlined in last month’s Digital Democracy Commission report was that the House of Commons should make sure that everyone can understand what it does. One of the examples it gave to demonstrate this was the rather arcane language still used during Parliament’s scrutiny of legislation. As someone who spends most of their time reading bill committee transcripts, I completely understand where they are coming from. How can we expect members of the public to know what MPs mean when they ask to ‘move’ or ‘speak to’ an amendment? Or what it actually means if a clause ‘stands part of a bill’ or an MP asks to ‘beg leave to withdraw the amendment’? And this is all before we get to starred amendments, manuscript amendments and clause stand part debates. Such language, the report says, is a ‘barrier to understanding’.

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Monday Night’s Debate on the European Arrest Warrant will have damaged public perceptions of Parliament

A version of this piece was published on The Conversation on 11 November 2014.

By Louise Thompson

It’s not often that parliamentary procedure hits the headlines. And it’s even less often that delegated legislation does. So the debate (if you can call it that) in the House of Commons about whether the UK would opt in to various parts of European legislation was a rarity indeed.Those watching the House of Commons on Monday evening were treated to a truly confusing spectacle that may have left many disheartened with Parliament – and with democracy.

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