The Start of a Process

It may be too early to judge the likely impact of today's report from the House of Commons Reform Committee. Dr Tony Wright, Chairman of the Committee, has himself described it as the start of a process which it will be for the next Parliament to carry forward. In some ways it is an opportunistic initiative. Although the report itself refers to the row over MPs' expenses in its first paragraph, it is actually an expression of much longer-standing backbench aspirations. We assume the members of the Committee believe that the expenses scandal has prepared the ground for those aspirations to be pursued.

That's not to say that the Committee's recommendations are by any means merely self-serving. They do genuinely offer ways to strengthen the House of Commons as an institution and to rebalance the relationship between Parliament and government, as well as modestly to increase the influence of the public on Parliament. For example, the proposal for Select Committee chairs and members to be elected - chairs by the whole House and members by party groups - holds out the prospect of more independently-minded Select Committees, which could lead to more interesting Select Committee reports. Whether they will be more influential remains to be seen.

As does a great deal more. Although the government has said it will make time to debate the report and although Sir George Young has said that reform will be a manifesto commitment for the Conservatives, there is plenty of scope for the Committee's recommendations to be watered down or to slip from view altogether between now and the General Election. But the current system of departmental Select Committees was agreed under one government 30 years ago and implemented under another. It would be rather neat if the biggest change in the system since then happened in the same way.