Commons sets up democracy inquiry

MPs have launched an inquiry into democracy and under-representation in the Commons.

The House on Wednesday approved plans for a year-long Speaker's conference, suggested by Gordon Brown in September last year.

The prime minister proposed that it look at issues relating to democratic engagement and the decline in turnout at elections.

He also said it should consider "the important issue of the representation of women and ethnic minorities" in the Commons and more widely. Michael Martin accepted the idea in July.

Other issues under its remit could include electoral reform, parties' internal selection of candidates, Commons working hours and the culture of Parliament, including disabled access.

The cross-party group is set to consist of 17 MPs and be run along the lines of a Commons select committee.

Earlier on Wednesday, leader of the House Harriet Harman told the Guardian newspaper that: "If people see the Commons as a narrow and self-serving elite... then the Commons has no legitimacy."

"Nothing is off-limits," she added. "It is potentially a very radical, historic decision - it moves the issue right up the agenda, and puts something that used to be dismissed as political correctness right to the centre of the political agenda.

"If the Commons is not representative, it is nothing. This is about Parliament saying 'we are not OK to go on as we are'."

However Labour MP Tony Wright, chairman of the Commons public administration committee, has called for the inquiry to go further and look at the exclusion from Parliament of working-class people and those from outside the "political class".

"It is most sensible to start off by deciding what under-representation there is before deciding what you are going to tackle," he said. "I think there are all kinds to look at."