article_snippet: This will require bold and imaginative managerial leadership to ensure that we are a Parliament fit for purpose and that this Victorian legacy can be rendered practical for contemporary representation.'
article_snippet: Here is just some of the work that needs to be done to the Houses of Parliament to prevent a ‘looming crisis’: .
article_snippet: The Speaker also addressed the 'agony' of the controversial process to recruit a new clerk for the House of Commons, insisting The Speaker had always believed that splitting the role in two was the right way to proceed.
article_snippet: A committee led by former cabinet minister Jack Straw recommended splitting the role, with a director general responsible for administration and the clerk left to manage the constitutional and parliamentary elements.
article_snippet: Mr Bercow said: 'On taking extensive evidence, they could see that the management of the House of Commons was simply not fit for purpose and they set out constructive proposals to equip us for the modern world. '
article_snippet: I am absolutely ecstatic that they reached the conclusions that they did, that they managed to obtain unanimity for they recommendations and that they findings were then accepted by colleagues without dissent in the debate in December and the legislation that came before the House of Commons last week. '
article_snippet: Now that the role has rightly been separated - I argued all along that the clerk should not also be the chief executive and this has now been agreed by the House of Commons
article_snippet: - I am confident that we will be able to find a clerk of the House whose constitutional qualifications would make Erskine May proud and a director general who can take on, full-time, the management of the Commons.'
article_snippet: Post-election there will be an opportunity to achieve change that the public would welcome.'