But the key feature of this approach is that the initiative for developing and bringing forward reform proposals lies with the government, and especially with the Leader of the House of Commons. [...] The most recent case of a committee of this kind with a procedural remit is the 2009–10 Select Committee on Reform of the House of Commons, better known as the ‘Wright Committee’ after its chair, the Labour MP Tony Wright.9 This was appointed in the wake of the 2009 MPs’ expenses scandal, to review four specific areas of procedure (and other connected matters). [...] The Leader of the House also chaired the Commons’ Committee of Privileges and the Select Committee on House of Commons (Services) as recently as the 1990s. [...] In each of these, we asked questions about the three main issues addressed by the report: the kinds of proposals the committee produced, the extent to which those proposals were implemented, and the extent to which they caused division within and beyond the committee. [...] For example, in a 2000 debate on re-establishing a ‘Standing Committee on Regional Affairs’, the Shadow Leader of the House George Young complained that: The proposal for this new Standing Committee has not been put to the House with the approval of the Select Committees on Modernisation or on Procedure – the preferred way of changing how the House works – but comes from the Government.25 Similar.
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Table of Contents
- Delivering House of Commoms reform: What works? 3
- Acknowledgements 7
- Executive Summary 8
- Introduction 10
- Chapter 1. Four Approaches to Commons Reform 12
- What is ‘House of Commons reform’? 12
- Proposals for Commons reform 13
- Approach 1: Government initiative 14
- Approach 2: Permanent backbench select committee 15
- Approach 3: Temporary backbench select committee 16
- Approach 4: Government-chaired select committee 17
- Frequency of the four approaches 18
- Summary 19
- Chapter 2. Our Study 21
- Key questions 21
- What kinds of proposals are produced? 21
- How far are proposals implemented? 22
- Do proposals attract widespread support? 22
- Methodology 23
- New secondary data 24
- Committee reports 24
- Committee recommendations 24
- Government recommendations 25
- Interviews 26
- Previous studies 26
- Summary 26
- Chapter 3. Substance of Reform 27
- Substantiveness 27
- Topics 29
- Pursuing ‘effectiveness’ 33
- Summary 35
- Chapter 4. Implementation of Reform 36
- Comparing approaches 36
- Box 4.1. The Modernisation Committee and carry-over 37
- Box 4.2. The Procedure Committee and proxy voting 39
- Box 4.3. The Procedure Committee and private members’ bills 40
- Comparing proposals 42
- Summary 43
- Chapter 5. Building Wide Support 45
- Consensus in committees 45
- Support in the chamber 47
- Support within government 50
- Summary 52
- Conclusion 54
- Bibliography 58
