Choosing the Speaker of the House of Commons: some proposals for change

Should we change the way we select the Speaker of the House of Commons? The current system requires that the House select an MP, who then gives up their party label and their public political views. At general elections, Speakers’ seats are not contested by the main parties. Richard Berry and Sean Kippin argue that this disenfranchises the voters of the Speaker’s constituency, and show how the House of Commons could modernise the way it chooses its presiding officer by adopting one of several alternative methods used abroad.