Memorandum submitted by John Hemming MP
(P 77, 2008-09)
The present arrangements for electing Deputy
Speakers are unsatisfactory in several respects.
(1) The motion to appoint them appears without
notice for immediate decision in the first week of a new Parliament,
with no real chance of amendment.
(2) There is no process of consultation beyond
the two front benches, and no opportunity for a range of candidates
to be considered.
(3) There is a need to appoint quickly, as the
Speaker cannot be expected to operate without Deputies after the
first two days of a new Parliament, but an election of deputies
could take place on the day after the Speaker is elected.
(4) The Liberal Democrats and the minority parties
have not had a Deputy Speaker since the 1960s, and this means
that a substantial element within the House plays no part in the
management of debates and the choice of speakers. Present and
proposed arrangements seem likely to maintain this unjustified
exclusion.
Arrangements for election by the House have
been suggested by Mr Speaker. There are a number of issues to
be considered before implementing such a proposal.
Should election be by the whole House (as the
election of Speaker is), or by the party from whom it is proposed
that the Deputy should be drawn? The first could allow the majority
party to make the choice between candidates of an opposition party.
The second could be said to treat the Deputy Speaker as a party
rather than a House figure, and is not on the same basis as the
election of Speaker. The proposed system of election also presumes
that there is a fixed allocation of Deputy Speakers to particular
parties, and if there is such an allocation, there should be a
place for Liberal Democrats, just as there is in the allocation
of Select Committee Chairs. Most other democratic Parliaments
ensure that there are Deputy Speakers from each of the significantly
represented parties.
As a matter of history, Robin Cook, when Leader
of the House, promised that Liberal Democrats would have a Deputy
Speaker, through the creation of a fourth deputy, but he failed
in the attempt to do this. There is an adequate case for a Liberal
Democrat Deputy Speaker with the present numbers, and it should
not be made conditional on creating a fourth deputy. Creating
a fourth deputy could, however, be more justifiable if the team
of Deputies were given wider responsibilities, such as chairing
the proposed Business Committee, becoming more involved in the
resulting process of ensuring that all parts of a bill can be
debated, and deputising for the Speaker in more of his duties
so as to enable him to do more of the external representation
of the House which the present Speaker regards as important and
necessary.
August 2009
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