Pete Wishart (SNP) for Speaker? Maybe a good idea.

The news that longstanding  SNP intends to put his name forward for Speaker of the house of Commons must have come as a bit of shock to many Independistas in Scotland but also here in Wales.

At first glance it looks like Pete has gone all establishment , but a quick look at his proposals, it looks like he is attempting to end the archaic practises in the bloody place.

As the National reports.

Launching his manifesto, Wishart said he would shake up the Commons, with “a clear reforming agenda” that will “make the House look and feel like a proper 21st-century institution.”Key pledges from the SNP politician included electrical voting in a bid to end the current “medieval parliamentary system.He also promised to allow MPs to use their names in the Commons: “We all have names, and if they are good enough for us in all other day-to-day discourse, they should be good enough for the chamber of the House of Commons.“All debates should continue to be made through the chair but we must start to speak to each other like ordinary human beings and address each other sensibly.”There were promises to reform the hours Parliament sits, the rules around clapping in the chamber and also to end the dress code and let MPs choose “what they should or should not wear to work”.Wishart said he would take some debates out of London to other parts of the UK.He told MPs: “My pledge to you as your Speaker is to make Parliament look and feel like an institution that belongs to its age. I will put in place reforms so that all Members of Parliament are treated equally and I will do everything to make Parliament relevant to all members of our community and all parts of the United Kingdom.”
Normal Parliamentary convention is that parties do not stand candidates against the Speaker during an election.However, the SNP have previously rejected that convention. An SNP source said that would change: “We won’t stand against Pete, no.

To summarise

1) Introduce electronic voting 

2) Abolish the dress code 

3) Allow clapping 

4) Allow MPs to use each other's names (rather than addressing by constituency)

 5) Extend proxy voting...
(6) Replace House of Commons commission with an ‘Executive of the House’ involving "all members of the HoC community including staff representatives"
7) End current practice of MPs being selected to speak based on seniority
8) Create an “open and available list of when Members would be expected to speak prior to the start of a debate” 

9) Take parliament around the UK, allowing some debates outside Westminster 

10) Reform parliament with 21st C working hours.

In other words copy much of the procedure in the Scottish Parliament .

Of course even if he was to win the establishment will block him at every turn

Still it's a pointer to what it is needed .