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Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who succeeded John Bercow last year, has empowered the Clerk of the House to publish details of disputes between them.
Sir Lindsay, 62, told the Commons today that, should the Clerk feel he breaks from convention without sufficient backing of the House, they will be able to express their views in the Commons library.
“As Speaker of the House of Commons I am committed to transparency,” he said following PMQs.
“I’ve written to the Clerk of the House to establish a new procedure… the procedure will apply if I take a decision the Clerk of the House considers compromises a substantial breach of the standing orders or a departure from long established conventions without appropriate authorisation from the House itself.
“In such a case the Clerk of the House will be empowered to place a statement of his views in the library. And I will always make the House aware that this has been done.”
Sir Lindsay, who had been a Labour MP, replaced 57-year-old Mr Bercow in November.
Mr Bercow proved a divisive figure through his tenure in the Speaker’s chair – with some trumpeting him for modernising the role and others criticising his apparent willingness to go against precedent.
Sir Lindsay has been said to have taken a less combative approach as Speaker, with Mr Bercow having become well known for his bellows of “order” and spats with MPs.
