Should Andy Burnham face the House of Commons before summer recess?

Ruxandra Serban explains that the gap between Andy Burnham taking office and facing Parliament will be the longest of any incoming Prime Minister in history and considers what this means for democratic accountability.

The Labour Party is now certain to elect Andy Burnham as its new leader on 17 July, and he is set to become Prime Minister on 20 July. The House of Commons is scheduled to go into recess on 16 July, so Burnham will not address MPs as Prime Minister until they return at the beginning of September. This would mean almost seven weeks in office before making a statement or answering Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). While this is not a constitutional problem, it definitely raises questions about democratic accountability.

There is no constitutional rule requiring a newly appointed Prime Minister to appear before the House of Commons immediately after being appointed. Once appointed by the monarch, a Prime Minister assumes office straight away and is expected to fulfil their parliamentary responsibilities such as attending PMQs when the House next sits. Indeed, had Keir Starmer remained in office, Parliament would also have normally been in recess during the summer, with regular scrutiny resuming in September.

But Andy Burnham is likely to appoint new ministers, announce new priorities and begin setting the direction of the government in the coming weeks. He has already signalled an ambitious policy agenda. During the summer recess MPs would have no opportunity to question the Prime Minister directly, ask ministers Urgent Questions, or hold debates on the government’s new agenda.

From a historical perspective, this delay would be unusual. Since 1945, ten Prime Ministers have entered office between general elections. In most cases, they did so while the House of Commons was sitting and addressed MPs soon after. Theresa May in July 2016 and Boris Johnson in July 2019 both took office shortly before the summer recess, but still made statements in the Commons before the last sitting day. Three other postwar Prime Ministers also entered office shortly before recesses but nevertheless addressed the House shortly before the House adjourned: Anthony Eden in April 1955, James Callaghan in April 1976, and Liz Truss in September 2022.

Johnson became Prime Minister on 24 July 2019 and made his first statement and answered questions in the Commons the following day, which was the last sitting day before recess. Amid the political tensions related to Brexit in the summer of 2019, Sarah Wollaston MP, at the time Chair of the Liaison Committee, argued that the recess should be postponed to allow MPs more time to scrutinise the new government. Her proposal was unsuccessful, but it demonstrated that concerns about a newly appointed Prime Minister avoiding parliamentary scrutiny are politically important. Parliamentary experts argue such controversies could be avoided by giving MPs more control over when the House of Commons sits.

Only two post-war Prime Ministers first took office while the House was not sitting. Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden on 10 January 1957 and first answered questions in the Commons about two weeks later on 22 January. Alec Douglas-Home became Prime Minister on 19 October 1963 while the Commons was not sitting, and without being an MP. After winning a by-election, he first spoke in the Commons four weeks later on 14 November, after the House returned on 12 November. But even these exceptional cases involved shorter delays than would occur if Burnham did not appear at the despatch box until September.

Looking beyond the UK

Among countries that share historical links with the UK and institutional similarities, there is no constitutional requirement for immediate parliamentary scrutiny when a new Prime Minister takes office between elections. In Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, Prime Ministers can also assume office while parliament is adjourned by being replaced as party leaders.

Chris Hipkins became Prime Minister of New Zealand in January 2023 during the summer adjournment and first faced the House of Representatives when it returned in mid-February. Scott Morrison became the Prime Minister of Australia on 24 August 2018 after a Liberal Party leadership spill. The House was not sitting and did not return until 10 September, meaning Morrison was in office for just over two weeks before facing parliament.

These recent examples show that a delay between appointment and parliamentary scrutiny is not unusual in countries that share a similar relationship between Prime Ministers and parliament. At the same time, they did not involve a gap as long as the one that may arise in the UK this summer.

Many European parliamentary democracies follow a different model in which a new Prime Minister cannot take office without parliamentary approval. In countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland, a new head of government takes office following parliamentary approval through an investiture vote. This also applies to changes of Prime Minister between elections. In these systems, parliament is directly involved in the process of government formation, so a situation in which a new Prime Minister could go for a while before facing parliament does not occur in practice.

Should anything be done?

One possibility would be for the House of Commons to sit for an additional day before the summer recess so that Andy Burnham could make a statement and answer questions, as in the case of Boris Johnson. This would require government support, as the parliamentary calendar is largely determined by the government and recess dates are approved by the House of Commons on motions put by the government which cannot be debated or amended.

So far, there has been limited political controversy over this, aside from calls from the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, and from the Shadow Leader of the House, Jesse Norman, for recess to be delayed. According to the House of Commons Standing Orders, Select Committees can sit during recess, so another possibility would be for the Liaison Committee to hold an evidence session with the new Prime Minister during the summer, providing at least some parliamentary scrutiny before the normal schedule of questions resumes.

Andy Burnham has signalled that he wants to reset the relationship with his backbenchers and change parliamentary culture. But the gap that will arise as a result of the clash between the Labour Party internal procedures and the parliamentary calendar nevertheless raises questions about the control that MPs have over when the House of Commons is sitting, and about the expectations around the relationship between the Prime Minister and Parliament.

By Dr Ruxandra Serban, Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Birbeck University.