This article is about the position in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. For the position in the United States House of Representatives, see United States House Committee on Ways and Means.
Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of Ways and Means is a senior member of the House of Commons who acts as one of the Speaker's three deputies. The current holder is Nusrat Ghani, following her election to the position on 23 July 2024. Ghani is the first ethnic minority MP to sit in the Speaker's chair.
History and functions
The Chairman of Ways and Means is the principal Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, presiding over the House in the Speaker's absence.[1] The chairman also takes the chair of the Committee of the Whole House. The chairman's title is derived from their role in the former Committee of Ways and Means, which was abolished in 1967.
The chairman's connection with the financial responsibilities of this committee gave rise to the tradition that the chairman presides over the annual budget debate, although there is no reason why the Speaker cannot do so if he or she chooses. The chairman is always a senior Member of the House, often with experience of chairing standing committees, and sometimes also of being a government minister.
The deputy chairmen also deputise for the Speaker in the chair or by chairing committees of the Whole House, although the chairman has certain additional and distinct responsibilities (for instance, in relation to private bills and overseeing the Panel of Committee Chairs).
Once elected, both the Chairman of Ways and Means and the deputy chairmen follow the same tradition of neither speaking nor voting on any matter before the House (unless a casting vote is required). Unlike the Speaker, though, they remain members of their political party and campaign in general elections as party politicians.
Election
Before 2010, the chairman was appointed by the Leader of the House or another government minister,[3] with the first and second deputy chairmen being appointed by the House of Commons from 1902 and 1971 respectively, but in November 2009, a report was published by the Procedure Committee which made the chairman, first deputy and second deputy chairmen all elected[4] which was approved in January 2010, with the election process further detailed in a report published by the Procedure Committee in February 2010[5] and approved the following month.[6]
This election takes place after the election of the Speaker, and uses the Single Transferable Vote voting system, with the first candidate reaching the quota being elected as the chairman, the second candidate reaching the quota being elected as first deputy chairman and the third candidate reaching the quota being elected as second deputy chairman, but there are some rules on who can be elected.
The chairman and second deputy chairman are elected from the opposite side of the House to the (former) party of the Speaker, while the first deputy chairman comes from the same side, which can lead to some situations where only the chairman and second deputy chairman are actually elected and the first deputy chairman is effectively appointed to the role if there was only one candidate in the election from the (former) party of the Speaker. This is because, in this situation, the candidate from the (former) party of the Speaker would automatically be elected to be the first deputy chairman without appearing on the ballot paper.
There is usually a gap between the election of the Speaker and the election of the chairman and deputy chairmen of anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, which has led to the House of Commons nominating members to temporarily serve in these roles until elections could be held. A report from the Procedure Committee published in October 2011 recommended that a new standing order be created to give the Speaker the power to appoint a temporary chairman and temporary deputy chairmen to serve between the start of a Parliament and the election of these positions, but as of the present day, this standing order has not been created, which has led to the House agreeing to appoint temporary chairman and deputy chairmen in various different ways.[7]
For example, after the 2010 general election, the House agreed on 25 May that the Speaker could nominate people to serve as temporary chairman and deputy chairmen, while after the 2015 general election, the process was broadly the same, with the only difference being that the House agreed to the appointment of temporary chairman and deputy chairmen on 26 March, which is before the general election had taken place. After the 2017 and 2019 general elections, the Leader of the House put forward a motion on the day of the Queen's Speech which provided for the appointment of temporary chairman and deputy chairmen. The major difference between these is that, after the 2017 election, the motion put forward then was for the Speaker to nominate temporary chairman and deputy chairmen (like what had happened in 2010 and 2015), but after the 2019 election, the motion put forward was to itself appoint the temporary chairman and deputy chairmen.[8]
The Speaker (or the Leader of the House in 2019) didn't necessarily have to appoint people to fill all the roles. In fact, after every election where the chairmen and deputy chairmen were elected except 2019, the Speaker only appointed two people as Deputy Speakers, not as chairmen and deputy chairmen. Only in 2019 were there people appointed to all three roles and as chairmen and deputy chairmen.[8]
Because the Speaker, chairman and deputy chairmen do not vote (except to break a tie), this effectively pairs the occupants of the chair (their presumed support for their side cancelling each other out), which means no party loses a voting advantage on account of having one of the four drawn from its ranks.
List of Chairmen of Ways and Means since 1826
Bold type and light grey colour indicates a chairman who was later elected as the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Light blue colour indicates where a deputy chairman was promoted.
Light green colour indicates where a deputy chairman reached.
^[1] Section 2, subsection 5: "The Chairman of Ways and Means himself was formerly appointed by Leader of the House or a Minister of the Crown when the House first resolved itself into a Committee of Supply following the meeting of each new Parliament."
