Speaker cuts summer break by five weeks to win voters’ trust

MPs will have their 13-week summer recess slashed next year in reforms to clean up the image of Parliament after the expenses scandals.

The Commons will sit for two weeks in September instead of waiting until the party conference season ends in October. It will shorten by about five weeks the bumper break from Westminster that begins in late July.

Speaker John Bercow believes the public assume the recess is a three-month holiday, even though most MPs work in their constituencies for part of the summer. In the wake of the furore over MPs' expenses claims, he thinks reforms are needed to regain the trust of voters.

Repairs and refurbishment at the Commons are being rescheduled so the earlier sittings can go ahead. Supporters of the idea think backbenchers will not dare refuse so soon after a general election, expected in May, and a Queen's Speech setting out the Government's plans for legislation.

Mr Bercow is pressing behind the scenes to go further by having sittings throughout September, including during the party conferences, which might see the annual political rallies cut short or relegated to weekends.

"Parliament has got to show it is listening to public opinion and addressing concerns," said a senior source.

"We know MPs are working in their constituencies during the recess, but the public often assume it is a giant holiday. People want to know they are being represented in Parliament and that ministers are being held to account."

September sittings were tried in 2003 and 2004, for nine days each, but opposition from whips and senior MPs killed off the idea.

Other reforms are also being discussed, including whether to make Parliament more family-friendly by scrapping late nights on Tuesdays so MPs can see their children in the evening.

This week it was announced that a creche would be created for 40 children of MPs and Parliament staff.