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Parliament and the Public

My Lords, it is, as ever, a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, who has brought a brisk and invigorating suggestion to this extremely important debate. It will be interesting to hear the response of the Leader of the House to that and other matters raised today. I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, on the enthusiasm and skill that he has brought to the production of the report. I also congratulate the Hansard Society on its continued and impartial attention to the cause of parliamentary democracy in our country. The report has as its remit to examine public perceptions of Parliament and to recommend ways in which Parliament should counter what is described in the report, rather menacingly, as,"““widespread cynicism and voter alienation, which is in danger of lapping at the skirts of the Mother of Parliaments itself””." There are clearly issues alienating voters other than public perceptions of Parliament, one of which I intend to address later. Others have been addressed by earlier Hansard Society reports as the noble Lord, Lord Holme, pointed out. The recommendations range from the fairly easily accomplished, such as an updating of the parliamentary website, to rather more controversial ideas, which I think no one has raised so far, such as the appointment of a chief executive for Parliament and the involvement of a Speaker—any Speaker—in a more high-profile and explanatory role. Examples drawn from other parliaments suggest that we should introduce public presentations of the work of Parliament by impartial parliamentary officials themselves, using all the means of communication described during the debate. Those officials would be impartial in the same way that Clerks to Select Committees or the House Education Officers are impartial. Over time, intriguingly, it would be possible to test the optimistic proposition reported in chapter 5 that if that were done, journalists would resist the Westminster village approach that has during recent years so trivialised political reporting in the UK. It would be good to put it to the test. In France, for example, we do not see the same obsession with personalities in political reporting that, sadly, we find here. Nevertheless, research in which I am engaged with colleagues in Queen Mary College, University of London, and the Sorbonne reveals some of the same cynicism in the electorate described in the report. The research is based on a questionnaire completed by matched groups in France and England, designed to probe attitudes to the democratic process and accountability—in short, whether voters actually think that it is worth voting or whether they believe that other means, such as direct action, are more effective. We are seeing an illustration of that in France at the moment. The research is in its early stages, but there are already interesting points of convergence, where respondents in both countries tend to claim that all politicians are the same—where have we heard that before?—and of difference, where there are clear indications that the French respondents, unlike their English counterparts, believe that their vote counts locally. Intriguingly, the translation of a questionnaire into French by colleagues at the Sorbonne has revealed the fact that there is no precise French equivalent of the word accountability. It is regrettably the case that there is, as the report states, great confusion in the public mind about Parliament. My elected experience—the noble Lord, Lord Holme, also said this—was that people do not distinguish between Parliament and government. They use the words interchangeably. However, I take gentle issue with the comment in the report in chapter 1, paragraph 1.5, which states:"““Without Parliament, both the legitimacy of Government and the freedoms of the press are unlikely to stand””." As my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth reminded us, actually, without a parliamentary majority there can be no Government. As an earlier Hansard Society report on the scrutiny role of Parliament stated:"““Crucially it creates and sustains the government””." The power to govern is bestowed on a political party by the people via the ballot box and legitimised by Parliament. There is no other way under our constitution. That is how important Parliament is. Obviously it is vital that Parliament itself takes charge of how it is perceived and, by using the means of communication, sets about putting the story straight. That is the message from the report; clearly there is support for it from all sides of the House. However, it is not only the responsibility of Parliament to explain and publicise the importance of its role. It is also the proper role of governments, which depend on Parliament for their existence. That has already been mentioned by other noble Lords, but everyone who has ever been in government will agree that close parliamentary scrutiny of the kind exercised most notably by Members of this House is deeply uncomfortable. Indeed, about the worst experience that I can recall as a Minister was having to appear before Select Committees of this House, where were assembled not only all one’s ministerial predecessors but every known world expert on the subject. All governments, whatever their politics, seek to avoid parliamentary scrutiny if they can. That is part of the game, part of the territory. But it is also the duty of governments—whatever government—to protect the sovereignty of Parliament and to defend its importance. In the rather dire circumstances so eloquently described in the report of the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, it is imperative that the Government should give a lead. It is good to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, that he has already had an encouraging response to the report from the Leader of the other place. It is the case, and it is well documented, that constitutional change such as devolution—introduced for the best reasons, of course—has obscured the clear line of accountability of our Parliament. It is also the case that the plethora of plebiscites, focus groups, lobbies, citizens’ movements, the Internet and citizens’ juries obscures the important role of Parliament. Of course Parliament is not the sole repository of political wisdom, and I do not suppose that it has ever been, but it alone is elected and accountable to the electorate. It is not acceptable that any government should seek to bypass Parliament. There have been sins on the part of the present Government, very fiercely pointed out by the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, and there will undoubtedly have been sins on the part of previous governments. But if a government seek to bypass Parliament, that does not increase respect for Parliament among the electorate. It is apposite that all governments should take note of that; after last night, maybe they will. I welcome the report. We are all parliamentarians and should support its main message: that Parliament, which is at the heart of our democratic process, should be explained, presented and made accessible and important to the electorate by Parliament itself. That must be right. But in that task, which falls to us as the current incumbents, Parliament in turn must be supported by government to achieve what the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, has described as a step change.