The Green MP said witnessing PMQs in person made her feel the culture of Westminster needs to change
New Green MP Hannah Spencer has branded Prime Minister’s Questions a ‘pantomime’ after her first two weeks in Westminster. The Gorton and Denton representative said the ‘facade’ and ‘theatrics’ of the weekly debates are ‘worse than I was expecting’.
The MP criticised what she described as politicians trading ‘pre-prepared insults’ during the Commons session. She said the spectacle risks wasting politicians’ time that Ms Spencer argues should be focused on improving people’s lives.
PMQs is a 30-minute weekly session in the House of Commons where the Prime Minister answers questions from MPs. While designed to hold the government to account, it is often characterised by loud exchanges and jeering during debate.
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Ms Spencer made the comments during an interview with the Manchester Evening News on Friday (March 13) as the new MP was visiting a community food club in Gorton run by The Bread and Butter Thing.
Reflecting on her first fortnight in Parliament, she said one of the biggest surprises had been witnessing the weekly Commons clash in person. Ms Spencer said she had expected the confrontational atmosphere but found it more ‘theatrical’ than she anticipated.
“A lot of us see Prime Minister’s Questions and the pantomime of it all,” she said. “That’s why people are so fed up, because it’s just the worst use of anyone’s time to listen to people come up with pre-prepared insults.”
“Even though I knew what it was going to be like, I think it’s actually worse than I was expecting,” she added. “That whole facade that people put on, this theatre of playing a certain way.”
Ms Spencer said MPs should focus on the reason they were elected to Parliament, adding that the Commons should be a place where politicians work together to improve people’s lives.
“That’s not what we’re there for,” she said. “We’re there because people have elected us to do the things that we told them.”
The Green MP said witnessing PMQs and speeches in the Commons in person made her feel the culture of Westminster needs to change.
“When I saw it with my eyes, I was like, this has got to change,” she said. “Some of the daft stuff like that, that I think people are clearly fed up with.”
Spencer argued that politicians could challenge each other’s policies without resorting to personal attacks. She said debates should focus on holding governments to account rather than trading insults.
“You can challenge each other’s policies…without that,” she said. “It’s really hard to describe, because I wish everyone could go in and see that.”
The MP said she believes the political system is already beginning to shift following her recent by-election win.
“I do think now politicians are going to have to start changing how they do things to become in line with how the rest of us live,” she added.