Speaker delivers speech on reform in new Parliament
11 June 2010 (updated on 11 June 2010)
The Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow delivered a Speech to the Hansard Society on 9 June on the subject of Reform in the new Parliament – Reviving the Chamber.
In the Speech he described:
“a very new political era, one which has witnessed far more radical change than I suspect any of us thought would take place when the old Parliament was dissolved on 12 April, a date that now seems almost a lifetime ago.
“The most dramatic example of this novelty is, of course, the creation of the first peacetime coalition since the 1930s with all the innovations which this requires in the way that both the executive and the legislature work.”
He concluded by saying:
“Scrutiny is, ...the absolute core of what the House of Commons is about and the Chamber is the place where scrutiny is and, crucially, is seen to be exercised. This will be a highly original, intriguing, Parliament in many respects.”