MPs vote to axe 'strangers' label

Tax payers will no longer be considered Strangers

MPs have voted to stop referring to members of the public as "strangers" - a term used since 1575.

House of Commons Leader Peter Hain dubbed it "an ancient, medieval practice...we should get rid of".

But his Tory counterpart Oliver Heald warned against "stripping away the charm and magic" of Parliament.

To some Tory shouts of "shame!", voting was 242 to 167 to drop the term and replace it with the phrases "the public" or "members of the public".

The term has been a high profile term within Parliament, notably with a bar and the public viewing area in the Commons both using the term.

Changes

Many MPs feel that in times of declining confidence in political parties and the knock-on effect of lower turnouts, it conveys the wrong impression to call the people they represent strangers.

The modernisation committee said: "This is the last impression we should be wanting to give to people who exercise their democratic right to visit what is after all their Parliament and whose taxes pay for all that goes on here."

Mr Heald said: "The suggestion that not calling members of the public strangers will improve the accessibility of Parliament to the public is surely misguided.

"The last thing we want is for the long historical legacy of Parliament to be gradually eroded until it becomes just another nasty New Labour style institution."

Liberal Democrat spokesman Paul Tyler backed the bid to end the use of the "misnomer" of strangers.

"Those who send us here have a right to be treated as part of the body politic rather than strangers to it," he said.

Despite Tory opposition MPs also backed a package of measures which will make permanent a series of experimental procedural reforms covering the timetabling of Bills, the use of deferred divisions and the carrying over of Bills to the next session of Parliament.

The timetabling motion was backed by 261 votes to 173.