1 Introduction
1. At the beginning of each Session, just before
the debate on the reply to the Queen's Speech, the House agrees
to three Orders and three Resolutions, set out on p 3. These relate
to elections, witnesses, the Metropolitan Police, and the Votes
and Proceedings. They have all been passed at the beginning of
each Session for nearly two hundred years, some of them for even
longer.
2. During a recent discussion with this Committee,
the Speaker encouraged us to look at these Sessional Orders and
Resolutions, to consider whether they should be abolished or updated,
and, in particular, whether the Order requiring the Metropolitan
Police Commissioner to prevent obstructions hindering access to
the House by Members was appropriate, in the light of recent experience
with demonstrations around the Houses of Parliament. The previous
Clerk of the House, Sir William McKay, had also provided us with
memoranda and suggested such an inquiry.[1]
3. We therefore decided to conduct a short inquiry
into the Sessional Orders and Resolutions. We took evidence from
the current Clerk of the House, Mr Roger Sands, and the Serjeant
at Arms, Sir Michael Cummins. In relation to the Metropolitan
Police Order, we took evidence from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner,
Sir John Stevens, the Minister of State at the Home Office, Ms
Hazel Blears, and some backbench Members of Parliament (Nicholas
Soames, Jeremy Corbyn and Dr Jenny Tonge). We have been in correspondence
with the Greater London Authority and received correspondence
from the Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey and several Members. To
everyone who helped us with our inquiry, we express our thanks.
4. The remainder of this Report examines briefly
the Orders and Resolutions relating to elections, witnesses and
the Votes and Proceedings, and then considers the Metropolitan
Police Order and related issues concerning demonstrations around
the Houses of Parliament.
1 These memoranda are not printed with this Report,
but an updated version by the current Clerk of the House and Serjeant
at Arms, incorporating most of the previous material, appears
at Ev 1-6. Back
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