website title

Student Zone - Update Materials

Update 3: June 2005 - Modernisation of the House of Commons

Political Issues 10.1 Parliament: workplace or club? (on p. 214 of the book) discusses a long debate about how the House of Commons should organise its business. It reports on an experimental regime of working hours which was introduced in October 2002 which limited the sitting hours of the House to finish by 7 pm (6pm on Thursdays). This apparently technical issue actually reflects deeply held views about the nature of the Commons as an institution: ending formal business at 7pm makes the House look more like a normal workplace than a club. 

But events in 2005 suggest that the 'modernisation' movement, which has been in the ascendant since the return of Labour to office in 1997, is now under serious challenge. In January 2005 the Select Committee on Modernisation (a Committee chaired by the Leader of the House of Commons) published a report extending the new regime of 'modernised' working hours. But after a debate on 26 January 2004 the House partly rejected the Select Committee recommendations. Members voted for a partial return to pre-2002 experimental regime: hours on Tuesday were now once again to be 2.30-10pm, though the House accepted a recommendation to bring forward the hour of business commencement on Thursday to 10.30. The new regime is in force under the Parliament returned after the 2005 General Election.

This does not mean that the modernisation 'tide' in the House has been turned back. Many of the key elements of modernisation are now 'institutionalised': that is, embedded in the working practices of the House. Thus the creation of modern office facilities, with substantial secretarial and research assistance, and with access to the latest technology, is now an irreversible fact of life for backbench MPs. These facilities, indeed, have become important methods by which MPs exploit their incumbent status to promote their chances of re-election, by using them, for instance, to mailshot targeted groups of voters in their constituencies. 

Likewise, the system of Select Committees now provides such an important alternative career for those disappointed in hope of government office that its continuation is inevitable. But the difficulties over hours of business - which so differentiates the Commons from the working practices of the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Assembly - shows how deep rooted is the traditional conception of the Commons as a club like body where social life beyond formal business remains of outstanding importance.

The report of the Select Committee on Modernisation can be accessed at: http://www.commonsleader.gov.uk/output/Page924.asp 

<< back to Update Materials list