Recess to put reform on hold

Andrew Blick (London, Houses of Parliament): Never before has Parliament been given the kind of advanced notice of government proposals as provided by Gordon Brown in his 'draft Queen's Speech'; and never before has a constitutional reform programme such as that contained in the Governance of Britain green paper been on the table. Westminster has much to chew over - but a recess is looming. While they might not have draft bills yet parliamentary committees have a sufficient idea of what is going to happen to begin conducting the kind of wide consultations that should be central to our new style of governance. There is no technical barrier to a select committee holding hearings during recess (the Foreign Affairs Committee did so last summer over the Israel/Lebanon crisis) - but there are obvious human ones. Yet the reluctance of MPs and staff to impinge at all on the summer break is not a sufficient reason for Parliament to fail sufficiently to participate in this historic moment. Perhaps the Commons Liaison Committee should start by requesting an urgent session with Gordon Brown to discuss in depth his plans for the constitution and how Parliament and the country at large can become involved in them.