Three late night sittings a week for MPs would be scrapped under new proposals for bringing Parliament into the 21st century.

The Commons modernisation committee says Parliament should start and finish earlier on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday.

We are not trying to make Parliament more family friendly for MPs, we are tring to make it more voter friendly

Paul Tyler Lib Dem MP

The idea is part of a package which Commons Leader Robin Cook says could boost public confidence that Parliament is relevant to their lives.

The proposals also include measures aimed at helping MPs to keep the government in check and at producing better laws.

The Commons has already experimented with more standard working hours on Thursdays.

Weekly high noon

That change should be extended, said the committee, with MPs starting at 11.30am and finishing at 7pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 6pm on Thursdays.

That would mean Tony Blair's weekly showdown with Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith being held at noon on Wednesdays, instead of in the mid-afternoon.

Under the plans, MPs would only sit late on Mondays when they need the mornings to travel down from their constituencies.

Cook says Parliament must be made more relevant to voters

Paul Tyler, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on the committee, said the idea was not to make Parliament more family friendly for MPs.

"We are trying to make it more voter friendly, more visible, more interesting, more relevant," said Mr Tyler.

The committee believes the "typical" MPs' 60-hour working week will not be reduced.

Iraq recall demands

Cutting MPs long summer break, so that they return to Westminster in early September and have a break later for the party conferences, is also proposed.

The Commons leader said that would stop the need every year for demands that Parliament be recalled early, just as was happening now amid concern about the Iraq crisis.

Mr Cook was keen to emphasise other plans to make government more accountable to Parliament.

Winterton: Ministers must not abuse changes

"Public confidence in our democracy depends on whether the public respect Parliament as relevant to their lives and believe it scrutinises government effectively," he said.

Better scrutiny made for better government, argued Mr Cook.

Among the ideas unveiled on Thursday morning were:

• Cutting the notice time MPs have to give of questions to ministers from 10 days to 3 days
• More debating of draft plans for new laws before they enter the formal legislative process
• Allowing legislation to be carried forward from one session of Parliament to another, rather than being abandoned automatically

The current rules on tabling questions means ministers will be answering in October questions written in July.

That meant the Foreign Office would face no questions about Iraq as soon as Parliament returned, said Mr Cook.

There should be more debates where MPs made shorter speeches too, he said.

"The world outside prizes brevity and informality and we need to get some of those virtues inside Parliament."

'Visitors welcome'

The proposals are part of efforts to reconnect the political process with voters after low turnout at recent elections.

They include setting up an interactive visitor centre to make trips organised by MPs to Parliament when it is at work more valuable, especially for school parties.

The Commons leader said he wanted to build all-party consensus behind the proposals, which will have to be approved by MPs.

Nicholas Winterton, a Conservative member of the committee, said the proposals could have a positive impact.

He was worried that allowing bills to be carried over from one parliamentary session to the next could be open to abuse by any government.

But if opposition parties were consulted, as promised, "then I believe overall this report will bring great benefits".

Democracy campaign group Charter 88 said the plans could produce better scrutiny and legislation.

Charter 88 director Karen Bartlett said: "Rather than looking like a zoo full of ostriches with their heads in the sand, MPs will now be able to discuss topical national and international events."