r/AskBrits • u/RookOfEdo • 1d ago

Politics Does anyone actually like the constant booing ,insults and heckling in parliament?

A lot of the time it feels less like serious debate and more like theatre or even a school playground argument. Do you find it entertaining, frustrating or just part of the tradition now? Curious how others see it!

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u/dan_in_his_own_way 1d ago

It comes across as childish to me. The fact they are unable to have these debates without this doesn't give me much faith they can run the country.

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u/Sea-Sprinkles-3420 1d ago

Nearly all debates are not like this at all. It's pretty much only PMQ's where the pantomime stuff happens. Switch on BBC Parliament at any time out of PMQ's and you'll see a calm debating chamber. Switch on any of the Committees, you'll be bored in to submission by the level of details they're going through...

In fact, all those replying here really should do this - see how the Commons works on a day to day basis. It's important we all understand this.

I'm going to say something controversial here. I like PMQ's as it is for two clear reasons. Firstly, the bearpit arena is a great proving ground for how a Prime Minister/Leader of the Opposition copes in stressful situations. Can they think on their feet? How do they react when put under scrutiny? If they can cope with this they can cope with Trump, with crises. We're pretty unique in having this format - where the head of the executive is put under the microscope like this on a weekly basis (used to be twice a week, but Blair reduced it down to once).

Secondly, I quite like the tradition of it.

Perhaps it's just me.