Why Does Only One Place in the UK not have an MP?

There is one area in the UK that doesn’t have a voice in the House of Commons. Their representative can’t vote in parliament and they can’t voice their opinions on the floor. How is this allowed in a modern democracy and will it ever change?

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[lukesworshipgearreviews]

I live in Chorley. Hoyle is a good MP has helped our town in many ways. However it's annoying not having a MP in practice.

[scotandiamapping]

When I clicked on this video I assumed you were talking about the speakers seat.

I was correct

[hughjass]

In Canada, we have a somewhat similar system except that the speaker is "elected" each time the house sits. If the incumbent wishes to remain, it's almost always an acclamation vote with no one offering against them. They do vote on bills occasionally, but only in the case of ties.

When the house rises, they go right back to being a "party" MP and run as such in the subsequent election with a full slate of candidates opposing them.

[asierescobal]

-"Too bloody right"
- Yeah!

[MarcoGPUtuber]

Now I can't get Jay Foreman's video out of my head.

[TheEvilMammal]

Guys, I have to say, these videos are fantastic. They're to the point, non-bias and informative. I can't think of any other channel, whether it be online or on TVs, that is as good as TLDR.

[Dave_Sisson]

I think it's important for the speaker to be an MP, but acknowledge the problem of his/her essentially unrepresented constituency. A solution would be to create a "rotten borough" especially for the speaker, say a barely inhabited island like Lindisfarne or Lundy.

When a new speaker is elected, the previous speaker would resign as the member for the special speakers constituency and if the new speaker was the only candidate, there would be no need for a byelection there, while a byelection would be held in the new speakers old constituency so they could have genuine representation in parliament. Everybody wins!

[IsYitzach]

I have a few suggestions. 1) As you suggest, the speaker could be replaced in a byelection as soon as they are elected. 2) Or, the speaker is some lawyer or judge that parliament elects periodically. In the US, it isn't required that the speaker be a member of Congress. That is why Donald Trump was nominated to the position in the current Congress. 3) Or they are allowed to be partisan as in the US Congress.

[TheKarate]

The speaker still takes on constituent’s casework though. It’s almost better for the constituents in a way because the speaker will pass on requests to the relevant government minister who can get things done faster.

[bluebelle]

I'm in Australia, we use a similar political system to the UK. I lived in the electorate of the speaker for a good chunk of my voting life. He had to stand against opposition every election. The speakers here are usually chosen from long term blue ribbon seats. The speaker is neutral while sitting but does not lose their part affiliation. It still means the minister cannot bring issues but in theory a least the people have chosen their party, their policies. But if a speaker loses their seat in a shock loss, they do lose the speakership and a new one is appointed. It works for us.

[clickrick]

Any of the forms of Proportional Representation with multi-member constituencies would immediately solve the problem.

[llanieliowe]

For anyone who was wondering the current speaker is from the area of Chorley in Lancashire

[creanero]

Ireland has a similar system where the Speaker of our Parliament (Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann) is automatically reelected, but because we use multi-seat constituencies and PR-STV voting, their constituency still gets to vote, and still has 2-4 representatives (instead of the usual 3-5).

[Jakob_Herzog]

Their only counter arguement is voter fatigue? That's a rather weak counter arguement.

[Matthew-bufg]

I live in Chorley so Lindsay Hoyle is my local MP. It is worth pointing out that, as a local MP, he's very good. He has often worked in partnership with older people to ensure they have good care outcomes, he is overseeing transformation in services for younger people (though we do lag behind in that) and most prominently of all, his voice arguably swayed the A&E department to remain open under threat of closure a few years ago.

However it is frustrating that we are essentially stuck with him with no chance to change. I genuinely think his seat would've been under threat in 2019 had he not been elected speaker. There's a strong chance that in the next election I will be voting green should they stand a candidate here (nothing against Hoyle - just to send a message to the Labour party).

A change in procedure so that one constituency isn't ignored would be appreciated.

[donatist]

An MP does not represent the people of his constituency. He represents the plurality in his constituency that elected him. To represent all voters you need proportional representation.

[andrewbourke]

In Ireland this problem isn't as severe because the ceann comhairle (same job as speaker of the house) gets automatically re-elected, and all our constituencies have 3-5 seats anyway

[aranmcdonagh]

Do one of Isle of Mann, Jersey & Gurnsey, still confuses me,
Also u could kinda count some N.Ireland seats since Sinn Féin abstain from Westminster

[mmclo]

In Ireland the "convention" is in the written constitution so "speaker" automatically re-elected

[bm]

In Germany every party represented in parliament gets to nominate a deputy speaker (or as it's called "deputy president of the Bundestag"), the biggest party's nominee is "the president of the Bundestag". In reality the speaker and all the deputies take turn in leading the sessions and follow common guidance agreed between them beforehand.