Cut the endless waffle, says MP

Endless speeches are made to a handful of MPs, Mr Carswell said

MPs' "endless, pointless debates" should be cut short, so they can get on with the job of holding ministers to account, says a Conservative MP.

Harwich MP Douglas Carswell said "rapid-fire debate" would be more useful than "waffling politicians, loving the sound of their own voices".

He first raised his concern in a blog, written during a Commons debate in which he was not called to speak.

He said speeches should be cut to a three-minute maximum.

"They have done it for cricket with the 20/20 rules. They should now do it for Parliament," he said.

'Zero spontaneity'

In a blog written during a debate on education and skills - Mr Carswell wrote that a group of Italian tourists in the visitors' gallery had left after five minutes because speeches were so "plodding and pedestrian".

He said current Parliamentary protocol "favours seniority over originality" and backs a time limit on speeches.

He told the BBC: "MPs talk for hours and hours and you have these endless, pointless debates where a handful of MPs will be listening, no-one will be watching - the visitors' gallery will be empty - zero spontaneity.

"Because of that the ministers, the government, they get off scot-free. We can't hold them to account under the current rules."

Mr Carswell admitted to the Telegraph that after sending the piece, he wondered whether he might have breached the rules by blogging while on the Commons benches.

Last year rules were changed to allow MPs to check emails while in the Commons chamber and go online - provided it did not interfere with the business going on at the time.