John Bercow hints at cutting the number of questions that the Leader of the Opposition can ask at PMQs

Within a wide-ranging interview with The Independent the Commons Speaker suggests that Prime Minister's Question Time needs reform:

"This is the most viewed of all the parliamentary events. Changing it would make the biggest impact, but while a lot else has changed this has not. It is far too noisy and needs to be conducted in a more civilised manner... Journalists love the cut and thrust, but the public detest it. We must not mistake media enthusiasm for a massive bust up with the views of the great mass of the public who don't like it".

In particular he recommends cutting the number of questions that the Leader of the Opposition can ask:

"Six questions are too much for the Leader of the Opposition. They end up taking a large number of minutes, say ten minutes out of 30, that is a third of the time gone".

Tim Montgomerie