Speaker calls for Commons recess to be cut short following pause to mourn Queen

The Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested that the upcoming recess period should be cut short after parliamentary business was put on hold following the death of the Queen.

Proceedings in both the House of Commons and House of Lords were halted last Thursday upon the news of the monarch’s death.

They are due to resume at some point after the Queen’s funeral on Monday 19 September.

But both houses are due to pause once more from 22 September to allow for the Labour, Conservative and SNP conferences to take place.

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MPs are currently not expected to return to Parliament after conference recess until Monday 17 October.

This means there is very limited time for the government’s “fiscal event” as Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng prepares to set out his mini-budget to help provide households and businesses with support to ease the burden of the cost of living crisis.

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Prime Minister Liz Truss is also expected to fly to the US for the United Nations General Assembly following the funeral, further narrowing the window of opportunity.

Two days after becoming PM, Ms Truss announced she would introduce an energy price guarantee (EPG) to restrict bills to £2,500 for two years from October – about £500 higher than now, but £1,000 less than Ofgem’s incoming price cap rise.

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Sir Lindsay Hoyle said it is his “hope” and “expectation” that the conference break will be slimmed down.

But he added that he does not want to “hold anybody to ransom” as nothing has been decided yet.

A House of Commons source told Sky News the provisional plan is for the commons to sit until Friday 23 September and return a week earlier than scheduled – on 10 October.

The final party conference, the SNP’s, concludes on this date.

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“What I would say to you is we expect… and I will want to start swearing MPs in as quickly as possible. I’d like to think that will take place next week,” the Commons’s Speaker told Times Radio.

“So the House will – I’m expecting, it’s not been laid down, so I’m being cautious on what I say – but I would certainly expect the House to be sitting next week.

“I believe, and I do say believe because I don’t set the agenda, that’s why I’m very cautious and very careful to say I wouldn’t expect those three weeks to be taken. I would expect the House to come back.”

Sir Lindsay added that he would “certainly expect” a debate on the energy crisis before the party conferences.

“I do believe that they could well be cut short – and I don’t want to hold anybody to ransom by saying I may have misled people – but that will be my personal expectation… and hope, may I add,” he said.

The PM’s official spokesman said on Wednesday: “We are looking at changing the recess dates.”

Advice on how Number 10 wants to alter the recess period is expected shortly.

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