I imagine that many readers of this article will start with the assumption that it is being written from some far-off beach – since the newspapers regularly tell us that MPs are on holiday from the end of July until mid October.
The reality is that (probably, typically) I have taken a total of 16 working days off from parliamentary duties over the summer. And each of these 16 days has started with a couple of hours dictating constituency correspondence (because constituents quite rightly do not expect their concerns to be subordinated to an MP’s time off).
Now things are again in full swing. My colleagues and I in the Shadow Cabinet are busily preparing policy announcements for our Party Conference. No doubt, the other party leaderships are doing just the same – and the Government is, of course, continuing to wrestle with all the difficulties that afflict anybody who is trying to run the country, including the vexed international issues that have arisen in Libya and Afghanistan.
But it is true that the view from Westminster at this time of year is always an odd one. Because Parliament isn’t having formal debates, the many daily encounters between journalists and MPs that normally occur in and around the lobbies are in suspension, and there isn’t the daily news flow that is normally generated by legislation and other parliamentary events. Much of the place is surrounded by scaffolding due to the “summer works” that seem to be a perennial feature of a large and elderly building.
This year’s scaffolding seems somehow symbolic. Will it, I wonder, presage a more profound rebuilding of Parliament between now and next August?
And what will that consist in? Certainly, a completely new system of expenses, invented by the independent Kelly committee rather than by MPs. But, beyond that, I hope we will see a parliament that has more ability to hold the government of the day to account (with more powerful and more independent committee-hearings), a parliament that is itself more accountable (with debates and Bills triggered where a sufficient proportion of the public demand them), and a parliament that more effectively examines and debates what ministers are proposing to sign up to at EU level. I hope, too, that we will see changes to ensure that legislation relating only to England will require backing from a majority of MPs representing English seats.
In short, there is quite a lot of rebuilding to do, before the scaffolding can come down.