Committee publication · Report · 11 February 2026 · HC 535

5th Report - Elections within the House of Commons

Inquiry: Elections within the House of Commons

Government response deadline: 11 April 2026

Summary

The Procedure Committee conducted its first comprehensive review in 15 years of internal House of Commons elections for Deputy Speakers and select committee chairs, prompted by 335 newly elected MPs in 2024 and concerns about campaign conduct. The report recommends maintaining the Single Transferable Vote system for Deputy Speaker elections, but urges tighter regulation of select committee chair campaigns, including banning paper materials, limiting the nomination-to-election period to 14 days, and prohibiting campaigning on polling day.

Key findings

Deputy Speaker nomination and campaigning arrangements are broadly working effectively; informal hustings should continue without formal provision in Standing Orders.
Single Transferable Vote system for Deputy Speakers, with cross-party balance and gender representation constraints, should remain unchanged; constraints remain important and necessary.
Select committee chair elections show rising campaign intensity (particularly 2024), with excessive paper materials, mass communications, and resource inequality undermining parliamentary work; recommend banning paper campaign materials.
The 43-day gap between close of nominations and elections in 2024 contributed to excessive campaigning; Speaker should ensure periods are 14 days or fewer wherever practicable.
No formal enforcement mechanism needed; recommend non-binding Rules to be endorsed by the House to regulate campaigning conduct morally rather than legally.

Recommendations

Speaker should exercise discretion under Standing Order No. 2A(5)(f) to provide additional time between close of nominations and elections for Deputy Speakers as a pilot; successors should consider making permanent if successful.
Electoral system for Deputy Speaker elections should remain unchanged: single ballot paper using Single Transferable Vote with cross-party balance and gender representation constraints.
Speaker should work with Government to ensure the period between close of nominations and select committee chair elections is 14 days or fewer, wherever practicable, to limit excessive campaigning.
Paper campaign material produced by individual candidates for select committee chair positions should be prohibited; short video promotions should be permitted instead.
Speaker should extend gap between select committee chair nominations closing and elections to allow House Administration's candidates' nominations booklet to be produced and widely circulated as pilot; successors to consider making permanent by amending Standing Order No. 122B if successful.
Rules prohibiting campaigning in immediate vicinity of polling place on election day should be adopted by the House; all Members encouraged to support culture of adherence to Rules through moral obligation.
Government should work with Backbench Business Committee to address anomaly of Backbench Business Committee Chair being elected on sessional rather than Parliament-duration basis.
No additional Deputy Speakers needed at this time; ad hoc arrangements for covering longer-term illness or unavailability are sufficient.

Tone

Procedural

Topics

parliamentary-procedureelectionshouse-of-commons-administrationcampaign-regulationgender-representation

Key actors

Cat Smith, House Administration, Speaker of the House of Commons, Natascha Engel, Baroness Primarolo, Nigel Evans, Baroness Laing of Elderslie, Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Notable line

“The excesses of campaigning appear to present an unhelpful interference with Members' ability to carry out their vital parliamentary and constituency functions.”

Key Quotes

“It was very important at the time to make sure the nominations had a party spread, because of the intention, first, that you should have only serious candidates—in other words, those who stood a chance of getting elected, which is why the bar was quite high—and, secondly, that they should demonstrate support from across the whole House, not just through the voting mechanism of STV.”
— Baroness Primarolo · On Deputy Speaker nomination requirements

“If you cannot get 10 people from across the House to happily and readily nominate you, you should not be standing.”
— Baroness Laing of Elderslie · On the appropriateness of the number of nomination supporters required

“Evans] agree with [Baroness Winterton of Doncaster] and [Baroness Laing of Elderslie] that having hustings is an important thing, so that people who do not know the candidates are able to ask whatever questions they like.”
— Nigel Evans · On the value of hustings for Deputy Speaker elections

“I think it is important, and I think it is just accepted now but in 2010, it caused some disagreement among some Members of Parliament— why did they have to vote for at least one woman?”
— Baroness Primarolo · On gender representation requirement in Deputy Speaker elections

“We understand concerns that the Single Transferable Vote electoral system used in elections for Deputy Speakers in the House of Commons may, at first glance, appear complex.”
— Procedure Committee · On perceived complexity of the voting system

“The excesses of campaigning appear to present an unhelpful interference with Members' ability to carry out their vital parliamentary and constituency functions.”
— Procedure Committee · On rising campaign intensity in select committee chair elections

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗