MPs split over changes to sitting hours
More than half of MPs want to see the return of the 14:30 start at the House of Commons on a Tuesday.
A new survey carried out by the Commons’ procedure committee found that 52 per cent of MPs wanted to start later on a Tuesday, while a narrow majority voted for the new 11:30 starts on Wednesdays to remain.
The earlier starts were brought in as part of a modernisation of Commons working practices, in a bid to bring MPs hours more in line with normal office hours.
However, the changes have not proved universally popular and Commons leader Peter Hain has ordered a review of the new hours.
The procedures committee called on the review to remember that no single option would attract a large consensus, though it recommended considering a later start on a Tuesday, the BBC reports.
“Not many other jobs involve a heavy workload in two places hundreds of miles apart, and it is not surprising that a working pattern which would suit the average office is unlikely to suit the House of Commons,” the committee’s report observes.
The survey, completed by 57 per cent of Commons members, also showed that a majority of MPs favoured starting select committee meetings at 09:25 rather than 08:55.
Since January 2003 MPs have sat on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 to 19:00. Previously, the Commons sat from 14:30 until late in the evening.
