A week last Wednesday, I was lucky enough to visit the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. I would like to share with you my experiences.
The day started very badly, because I had to get up much earlier than I usually do, although as a student, most normal people would probably say I should be up at 7am anyway. My coursemate and I then caught the train to London at 8:30 and got into Paddington at 10:30. A short wander round Hyde Park and a cab ride later we were in the powerhouse of the country.
Security is understandably tight there, we had to pass through an airport style security check, but after a short wait we were in the Palace. We entered the central lobby and observed the tradition of the Speaker entering the Commons, and then waited for our host, my coursemate’s local MP, Paul Flynn for Newport West, to sign us in. We then made our way to the public galleries.
The chamber is a lot smaller than it looks on television, because of that weird perspective that cameras have. I don’t know how they fit all 646 MP’s into it! The rules of the galleries are quite strict. You cannot read newspapers, you have to hand in bags, mobile phones and cameras, and you cannot stand up unless you are leaving and you must not applaud or heckle the MP’s.
The MP’s began to enter the chamber, and I recognised several members of the Labour and Tory front benches. Unfortunately from where I was sat I could not see the Lib Dem benches. Question Time began at 1:00 sharp.
The session was slightly surreal. I had seen it several times before on BBC Parliament, but here, right in front of my very eyes, Gordon Brown and David Cameron were having what can only be described as a massive row. The whole thing even felt as if it were a show put on for tourists, a bit like the people who dress up in periodical clothing at St. Fagans, and because of the noises made by the House at times, a little like a zoo.
However, this week, with some spare time on Tuesday, I visited First Minister’s Question Time in the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, a lot easier to get to being in my home city. Again, security is tight, with good reason, but the place feels so much more relaxed when you get in. You don’t need to be invited, you can just turn up, get a ticket and go in. The chamber in the Senedd feels a lot more open and inviting as well, and still feels like a powerhouse. The mood inside the chamber is also a lot more civilised, and it felt to me like more actual democracy takes place rather than soundbites and animal mating calls.
Although FMQ’s does not have the same feel as PMQ’s, I still found the session very interesting (although I felt that Rhodri Morgan was a little delusional at times with some of his questions!) and also wondered why it was that 646 MP’s have half an hour to question Mr Brown, but 60 AM’s get about an hour to do the same to Mr Morgan. I would very much agree that Westminster needs to modernise and become more open if it is going to begin appealing to the general public.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in both chambers, and would strongly recommend anyone with an interest in Politics attending. My opinion on a number of MP’s and AM’s has changed considerably since I saw them in action (for better or worse), but because this post has already gone on far too long, I’ll leave it on a cliffhanger for you to decide. Don’t worry though, none of the representatives I lost respect for were Lib Dems!
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