The
Guardian view on MPs returning: a new generation can reset parliament’s
authority
Editorial
Parliament
was diminished and trivialised under Conservative rule. Now it has a shot at
rehabilitation
Sun 1 Sep
2024 18.30 BST
Parliament’s
summer recess hasn’t put politics on hold, but the return of MPs to Westminster
this week marks a gearshift in the operation of the new Labour government. The
king’s speech in July set out an ambitious programme to change the way Britain
is run: a new wave of devolution; new structures for the delivery and ownership
of public services; new workers’ rights; and more.
This could
be the most consequential session since the battle to settle the terms of
Brexit. In their final years in power, the Conservatives ran out of ideas and
were too divided to develop policies of substance. Parliament was underemployed
or kept busy with ill-drafted bills conceived more as glorified campaign
slogans (“stop the boats”, for example) than as practical statutes.
Prior to
that, the authority of the Commons was already in decline. Pro-Brexit fervour
among Tories bred contempt for the legislature, exemplified by Boris Johnson’s
illegal attempt at prorogation in 2019. MPs were then marginalised during the
pandemic response. This year’s general election provides the opportunity for a
reset. Voters sent a record 335 rookie legislators – including three Sinn Féin
MPs who don’t take their seats – to the Commons, more than half of the total.
The more salient number is, of course, 158 – the Labour majority that is big
enough to ensure that Sir Keir Starmer’s plans become law without much
obstacle.
Election
victory on that scale is conventionally viewed as a recipe for executive
arrogance, since Britain’s constitution does not impose many checks on a prime
minister with command of the Commons. The reality is more subtle. Large
majorities can make the official opposition less effective. Seven Labour MPs
have already had the whip suspended for supporting a Scottish Nationalist party
amendment to the king’s speech calling for an end to the two-child limit on
benefit entitlement, a misery-spreading policy. There has to be a disagreement
with the proposals of the party to trigger an act of dissension. In the future,
it would be better to seek to win over prospective rebels with more than
demands of loyalty.
The election
of new select committee chairs in the coming weeks will provide an early
indication of how effectively the new parliament will hold the government to
account. Authoritative, independent-minded Labour figures will be needed for
the departmental committees that have been allocated, by the usual opaque
formula, to the ruling party – Treasury, foreign, defence, work and pensions,
energy and net zero among them.
The next
Conservative chair of the home affairs committee should be someone capable of
engaging intelligently with the detail of crime and immigration policy, not a
grandstanding culture warrior. The Liberal Democrats will want to use the
chairs of the health and environment select committees to carve out a political
profile for themselves commensurate with their newly enhanced Commons
representation.
The real
test will come once the substantial bills that will define political debate for
the new session are published. After years of parliament being sidelined or
consumed by hyper-partisan conflict and shallow theatrics, the process of
legislative scrutiny has been neglected. This is not the aspect of MPs’ work
that gets the most public recognition, but it is central to their
constitutional duties. With a new government embarking on a substantial agenda,
it is vital that a new generation of serious parliamentarians, sitting on both
sides of the House, rises to the occasion.
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