Speaker's conference

A Speaker's conference is a rarely-used type of formal inquiry into the arrangements governing elections.

It is chaired by the Speaker and its membership is drawn from all of the political parties in the House of Commons.

There were five Speaker's conferences on matters to do with electoral law and electoral reform in the twentieth century, the most recent being in 1978.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown revived the practice in September 2007, announcing that a new Speaker's conference would be established to consider how to counter declining electoral turnout and boost representation of women and ethnic minorities in the House of Commons.

The first Speaker's conference, chaired by Speaker Lowther from 1916 to 1917, paved the way for the enfranchisement of women in the UK.