Speaker's Conference to look at underrepresented groups in Parliament

12.41.00pm GMT Sat 20th Dec 2008

On 12th November, the House of Commons passed a motion to establish the first Speaker's Conference in over 30 years to "consider and make recommendations for rectifying the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large; and may agree to consider other associated matters".

The 17 members who will be sitting on this committee are: Anne Begg as the Vice-Chair of the group, Jo Swinson (chair of the Campaign for Gender Balance), Diane Abbott, John Bercow, David Blunkett, Angela Browning, Ronnie Campbell, Ann Cryer, Parmjit Dhanda, Andrew George, Julie Kirkbride, William McCrea, David Maclean, Fiona Mactaggart, Anne Main, Betty Williams,

A Speaker's Conference is convened by the Speaker of the House of Commons following an invitation from the Prime Minister. Under the impartial leadership of the Speaker, MPs from both the major and minority parties are brought together to consider issues within the electoral system. The last Speaker's Conference took place in 1977/ 78, and there have been only 5 in the whole of the last century. Speaker's Conferences in the past have led to women being enfranchised and the voting age being lowered from 21 to 18.

For further information about the Speaker's Conference, please visit http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/principal/speaker/speakers_conference.cfm