Held in contempt : what's wrong with the house of commons? / Hannah White.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

White, Hannah, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons.

Great Britain.

Public opinion--Great Britain.

Public opinion.

Physical Description:

x, 226 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2022.

Summary:

If MPs do not take responsibility for reforming the House of Commons - the cornerstone of our democracy - it will be held in contempt by the British public. In this timely book, Hannah White offers a perceptive critique of the internal shortcomings of the House of Commons. She argues that parliamentary rules have become too complex for many MPs, let alone the public, to understand. Meanwhile, MPs undermine their own credibility by acting as if the rules they set for others should not apply to them. This reinforces the public's sense that MPs are detached from their own lives, and their awareness that MPs are still not representative of the population they govern from the crumbling Palace of Westminster. 0Hannah White argues these internal flaws are undermining the public reputation of the House of Commons. And they have been compounded by government attempts to side-line parliament, particularly during Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. At a time of populist challenge to representative democracy, this book is a much-needed rallying cry - to reform the House of Commons as an institution or see it fade into irrelevance.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Side-lined

2. Unrepresentative

3. Arcane

4. Exceptionalist

5. Decaying.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

1526156695

9781526156693

OCLC:

1255214527