The House of Commons Backbench Business Committee was established in 2010, following recommendations from the ‘Wright Committee’ on reform of the Commons. At this 15-year point the committee is reviewing its operation, and in this post Meg Russell and Hannah Kelly summarise their submission to the review, which is due to be published shortly. They conclude that the Backbench Business Committee was an important innovation, but that changes are needed to get back to the Wright Committee’s vision of it helping facilitate a more responsive and independent House of Commons.
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The Modernisation Committee: revisiting past experience
September’s government reshuffle means that there is a new Leader of the Commons, and therefore a change to the leadership of the House’s Modernisation Committee. The new chair, Alan Campbell, might usefully study the committee’s 1997–2010 predecessor. In this post, Tom Fleming and Hannah Kelly summarise the key findings from a new article reviewing that earlier committee’s record.
Continue readingPrime Minister’s Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons: Lessons in parliamentary reform
Between 2017 and 2025, the Canadian House of Commons operated a Prime Minister’s Question Period procedure, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a new published article summarised here, Ruxandra Serban explores how this procedure worked, and how it differed from the traditional Question Period model.
Continue readingReviewing the Modernisation Committee’s first year
This week marks a year since the House of Commons established a new Modernisation Committee. In this post, Tom Fleming reviews the committee’s first year.
Continue readingMonitor 90: Labour and the constitution, one year on

Monitor 90, published today, provides an analysis of constitutional events over the last four months, a period in which the Unit hosted its annual conference and celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, and the Starmer government marked its first year in office. This post, by Meg Russell and Alan Renwick, which also serves as the issue’s lead article, argues that the government’s constitutional scorecard is mixed. The bill to remove hereditary peers from parliament has made significant progress, but further reform of the Lords feels a long way off. Keir Starmer’s relationship with his own backbenchers has deteriorated rapidly, with significant effects on government bills. Attacks on judges and the rule of law remain disturbingly common. Away from Westminster, an English devolution bill has been tabled, and measures aimed at increasing respect for democracy have been taken in Scotland and Wales. This post argues that the public still feel that politicians are not being straight with them, and that this perception needs to be fixed for democracy to function effectively.
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