Just over two years ago in May 2009 our parliament was in a deep crisis of its own making. But it seems that the new intake of MPs have spent the last year working to restore confidence to the House of Commons, and equally with the threat of extinction the Lords have found their voice.
The 2010 election saw some substantial changes to both houses, with over 35 per cent of the Commons changing over (that’s 232 new MPs) and a record new number of Peers pushing the Lords to a record 789 members.
The new parliament has also taken some steps to improve its own working arrangements, and the new speaker is certainly pro-reform while recognising the need to maintain traditions and customs. The useful report from outgoing Labour MP Tony Wright has led to the introduction of elections for the chairmanship of all Select Committees creating a few surprising results. Wright’s suggestion for a backbench business committee was also adopted by the House with Labour’s Natascha Engel beating the establishment figure Sir Alan Hazlehurst for the job of chair.
It’s not surprising that a change in personnel last year has helped boost MPs desire to ask difficult questions and to restore trust in their institution. Many of the new intake stood on a ‘clean up politics’ ticket and some might only be here because of disgraced predecessors.
Labour has been lucky with its 2010 ‘new gen’. After 13 years of fairly low renewal in the PLP it was inevitable that the newest MPs would want to mark a change with the preceding parliament, especially since they are now free of the constraints of being in government. Many of the ‘97 intake would have loved the freedom to sign up to campaigns and speak their mind, and in fact many did! But being in opposition is a different game entirely, and I’m sure our newest MPs would give up that freedom in exchange for Labour’s return to government.
The mix of old and new talent in the PLP has helped to ensure a good combination of former cabinet ministers working alongside the new intake in most shadow cabinet teams. Labour had 13 years in government and I think its important now for the PLP to make sure that MPs with experience at the top of government are used effectively to boost Labour’s strength in the House and presence in the media. It would be waste and a mistake not to bring experienced former ministers such as Ben Bradshaw and Pat McFadden into the shadow teams; and for that matter David Miliband too.
There are a number of standout members of Labours new intake in the Commons, one of whom is Rachel Reeves.
Rachel has brought a thoughtful and energetic approach to the shadow DWP team, and has successfully shown the relevance of her previous experience outside of politics through the recent stages of the government’s mammoth pensions bill. While at the same time she has been a trusted media performer and crucially has made a big impact on her regional media in west Yorkshire.
New Labour MPs are acutely aware of the damage that the crisis in politics has done to Parliament’s reputation, and it’s important that those Labour politicians who have been in Parliament for longer don’t fall into a trap of thinking that IPSA and the Thomas Legg review have ended that crisis. There is still a big problem with gender balance for example, with the Commons still only boasting 142 women MPs compared to 508 male MPs.
For Labour peers the past 12 months has been a merry-go-round of emotions. Many felt irrelevant as the new MPs caught all the media attention, and as Labour’s new leadership set about appointing spokespeople. But a series of high-profile stand-offs with the government, mainly by Lib Dem peers, have given the Lords a new sense of confidence about their work and their purpose. Labour peers have been able to capitalise on this sentiment and the team of former minister such as Jim Knight, Angela Smith, Bev Hughes and others who joined the upper house straight after the election have helped to up the game.
Of course the threat of extinction does wonders for people’s sense of determination to fight on, and many peers might be feeling like this is their last opportunity make a fuss before either being repackaged as a ‘senator’ or simply sent packing.
So, a lot done, a lot still to do. But Labour’s new intake of MPs and peers have made a mark over the past year and have helped restore some trust to parliament after its crisis of 2009. The real question is, can parliamentarians continue to rebuild confidence in the political class or will they fall into the trap of complacency and believe that their own ‘spot of local trouble’ is now passed?
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David Chaplin