The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : The
proposal to create a special constituency for the Speaker is dead so far as this Parliament is concerned. I understand that a similar suggestion was discussed by the Cabinet in the early days of this Government, but that it was instantly turned down. The Government was, however, prepared to produce the necessary legislation if there was anything approaching unanimity on its advisability. For a day or two it appeared that this was forthcoming.. Then came Lord Ullswater's letter in The Times, and from that moment too powerful an opposition was mobilized for the Government to go any further into the question. The whole affair is an important indica- tion of how jealous is even this Parliament with its gigantic majority to safeguard its rights. It was felt that if the Speaker was relegated to a dummy con- stituency he would become no -longer "one of ourselves" but an official of the House. There was also this formid- able difficulty. A Speaker's term of office actually ends with each Parliament. If a constituency was especially reserved for him it would mean that he would not be able to stand for election at the General Election. The House of Commons if it wished to re-elect him in the next Parliament would therefore be in the rather absurd position of having to elect an outsider, a pro- ceeding which in time of revolutionary upheaval might have very dangerous consequences.
Previous page
