Constitution Unit publishes guide to help backbench MPs reform the House of Commons

Key points:

• Reforming how the House of Commons operates can be difficult, and even daunting, for those Members of Parliament (MPs) who want to change the system. However, such reform is achievable, and past campaigns have accomplished it in multiple areas.
• This new guide helps backbench MPs, and others, to understand the key strategies, risks and opportunities to maximise their chances of success. From developing ideas, to building support, securing change and anticipating challenges, the guide emphasises what backbench MPs can achieve, illustrated with past successful examples.

Procedural reform is important. The House of Commons must be capable of responding to a rapidly changing world, tackling low public trust, and maintaining strong scrutiny of government. But changing the rules, standing orders, precedents and established practices in the Commons can appear daunting. This new guide published by the UCL Constitution Unit, Reforming the Commons: The backbench MP’s guide to achieving procedural change by Hannah Kelly, Lisa James and Professor Meg Russell, aims to help backbench MPs, and others, who want to change how the Commons operates.

The guide is structured around the typical lifecycle of a reform proposal, from developing ideas, to building support, securing change and anticipating challenges, and concludes with a summary of key points. It draws on past successful changes, including the introduction of elections for select committee chairs, the establishment of Westminster Hall and the Petitions Committee, and the introduction of proxy voting in for new parents. It suggests that backbench MPs are often central to initiating, sustaining and translating reform ideas into practice, and can engage with a wide ecosystem of actors inside and outside parliament to improve their chances of success. 

Key tips include being able to clearly articulate the underlying objectives of procedural reforms, being open to gradual implementation of changes and having proposals ready for when a political ‘window of opportunity’ arises. Most reforms require amendments to the standing orders, meaning the need to secure parliamentary time for debate, which is a key practical hurdle. The government is a significant gatekeeper of time, but backbench routes should not be underestimated.

The guide emphasises that reform is possible, but is often incremental and contested. Backbench MPs can play a key role in achieving change, and keys to success include steady effort, persistence and cross-party working.

Key links:

• The Constitution Unit – find out more about the UK’s leading research centre on constitutional change.
• Reforming the Commons: The backbench MP’s guide to achieving procedural change – read the report.
• ’Changing parliamentary procedure: a guide for MPs’ – read a summary.
• The Politics of Parliamentary Procedure – find out more about the Constitution Unit’s other research on parliamentary procedure.