This month, it invited all those working on the parliamentary estate to offer their own submissions — and quickly found itself with no shortage of ideas.
In particular, MPs recently elected to the House of Commons — which boasts 335 newbies after July’s election — are taking aim at some of the legislature’s most established rules and conventions.
One source of frustration and bafflement for new MPs is the practice of “bobbing,” whereby they must briefly and repeatedly rise in their seats in order to catch the Commons speaker’s eye to be called to speak.
Lucy Powell, leader of the Commons and chair of the modernization committee, confirmed there had been “huge interest in this work so far especially from new MPs.” | Alex McBride/Getty Images
New Labour MP Chris Curtis said that, together with late sitting hours and time-consuming votes, it’s part of “a constant sense of frustration” that “tradition is standing in the way of MPs being able to either see their kids in the evening or do our job effectively.”
Stella Creasy, a longer-serving Labour MP who has campaigned for women’s rights in parliament, said Westminster could still “not claim to be a safe nor a family-friendly workplace, with the price for too many being their mental health, relationship with their kids or partner.”
A second new Labour MP, granted anonymity to speak frankly, argued that bobbing was “exclusionary” for MPs with limited mobility — while Green MP Ellie Chowns has complained it “is not an efficient or accessible way to form an orderly queue to speak.”