After more than 400 years the House of Commons is set to stop describing people it represents as "strangers".

In a report outlining ways in which the Commons can communicate more effectively with the public, MPs have called for the term to be scrapped.

"Too often the impression is given that the Commons is a private club, run solely for the benefit of its members," said chairman of the modernisation committee and leader of the Commons Peter Hain.

"That in the 21st century visitors to parliament are still called strangers says it all."