How to fix Britain’s legislative problems

THE STATE OpeningMPMP of Britain’s Parliament, which took place on November 7th, is stuffed with pageantry. The most important is a nod to the English civil war. Black Rod, a stockinged flunkey, is dispatched to summon s to listen to the king, only for the doors of the Commons to be slammed in her face. The message: His Majesty can wait. Parliamentarians run the show.But how well are they doing? Parliament’s basic job is to , and s are botching it. The trend in recent decades is for Parliament to sit for fewer and shorter days, and to spend less time poring over laws. Take the number of urgent questions, a showy procedure whereby a minister is summoned to the chamber to comment on the story . These have exploded, from four in 2007-08 to 104 in 2021-22. The time left over for scrutiny is squeezed.