With
Dr Hannah White, Institute for Government
Dr Jessica Smith, Southampton University
Daisy Cooper MP, Deputy Leader, Liberal Democrats
Abena Oppong-Asare MP, Chair of Labour Women's Network
Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Chair of the House of Commons Procedure Committee
Marking the launch of Centenary Action Group's Report, Remotely Representative Parliament: Lesson Learning from the Hybrid Parliament on 24th February 2021.
This event comes at a crucial time in Parliament’s thinking. Measures to allow MPs to attend Parliamentary business virtually from home or their constituency are under review and are likely to be scrapped.
But the pandemic has shown that these measures have been literally life saving. Without doubt vulnerable MPs, disabled MPs, and MPs with children or other caring responsibilities would have risked their lives by travelling to Westminster or fail in their duty to represent their constituents.
Parliament has shown it can adapt and should adapt for the 21st century so that it can reflect the society it serves.
Numbers of women, Black and ethnic minority and disabled MPs lag far behind society as a whole. Many people are not represented by anyone that looks like them.
Centenary Action Group’s report The Remotely Representative House argues that technology could help solve this problem and enable politics to be more representative of our society.
