Committee rejects Government Response as "Democracy Denied"

• Report: Democracy Denied: Appointment of the UK's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report of Session 2015–16
• Report: Democracy Denied: Appointment of the UK's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report of Session 2015–16 (PDF 182 KB)
• Inquiry: Appointment of the UK's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe inquiry
• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

The report

PACAC concludes that the Government has failed to address the issues raised in the original PACAC report of 14 January 2016. Furthermore, the government sought to evade PACAC's recommendations by referring to matters which are irrelevant. PACAC therefore requires the Government to think again about the recommendation to adopt a democratic process for electing the UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Chair's comments

Chair of the Committee, Bernard Jenkin MP, said:

"The Government has just ignored our recommendations, and just deployed irrelevant arguments that serve only to avoid the issue. Our fundamental criticism is that the House has practically no opportunity to elect, to debate, or to amend the list of Members nominated to the UK delegation. This existing system is wholly undemocratic, and comes from a different era of secret deals with whips and government patronage. This method of appointing the delegation to the Council of Europe (an organisation whose central purpose is to uphold and strengthen democracy) is completely inappropriate and embarrassing. The government's response is democracy denied."

Free, fair and open election

The Committee calls upon the Government to amend its process from Prime Ministerial announcement of a list of names decided in concert with party leaders and whips, to free, fair and open election of the Commons element of a delegation by the whole House of Commons, as there is now for select committee elections. If the House agrees to the principle of the change PACAC proposes, the Procedure Committee could consider how this reform should be implemented.
 
At the same time, PACAC suggests that the Procedure Committee should consider whether the other delegations sent by Parliament to other international assemblies, namely the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, should also be appointed by free, fair and open elections.
 
PACAC's further report on this matter will require the government to issue a further formal response.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: PA