Commons break 'damaging' - Straw

The chamber lies empty for almost three months each summer

Commons leader Jack Straw has said he feared the 11-week summer recess at Westminster was damaging the reputation of the Houses of Parliament and MPs.

He said he was in favour of the Commons returning from its annual break in September, rather than the second week of October as it was at present.

He announced MPs would be asked to vote to restore September sittings.

The present system was "certainly unacceptable to our constituents and active members of this House", he said.

Mr Straw said MPs worked a great deal over the summer recess.

However, he added he was aware that their spell away from Westminster - which, this year, runs from 25 July to 9 October - looked like "quite a long time".

He said there was a problem with public perception and that although it was unfair to portray MPs as taking the whole period as holiday, he was concerned that parliament's reputation was being damaged.

Mr Straw said that as an interim measure, the government was investigating whether written parliamentary questions could be answered by ministers during September.