Thursday 4 June 2009

The Speaker


The Speaker of the House of Commons is appointed by a ballot of its members and is required to resign from their political party and become politically impartial. Speakers only cast their votes in the event of a tie and then they are guided by the president set by earlier incumbents to that office. Despite the claims in this document from http://www.parliament.co.uk/, if the speaker doesn't take part in debates, how are their own constituents represented?
Interactive Democracy side steps this issue by allowing constituents to represent themselves. Instead, Parliamentarians will be expected to debate bills, form a government and hold it to task as their conscience dictates. I'd expect the Speaker's role and responsibilities to continue but some may consider that a speaker could be appointed from outside of the House, so long as they acted within tight rules and regulations, or be dismissed by a vote of no-confidence. This would allow all MPs to act in the role they were appointed for by the public.

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