The three day visit to Ukraine of the speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain Betty Boothroyd (see photo) that took place last week can hardly be called ineffective. First of all, Mrs. Boothroyd have read a useful familiarization lecture for the Ukrainian deputies on parliamentary government in Great Britain that was met by the applause of part of the Ukrainian Deputies. The British Speaker stressed that the Ukrainian parliament has to play an important role in the development of democratic processes and speeding up economic reforms.
The experience of the British Parliament in building democratic society can be very interesting for Verkhovna Rada, thinks Mrs. Boothroyd — the dispute and the debates constitute the “core of democracy”. The opposition should criticize the government in power, and opposition parties must have the possibility to express their opinions on the chief state problems. Speaking before the leaders of Ukraine’s youth organizations in the office of the British Council, Mrs. Boothroyd remarked that one of her chief tasks as Speaker of Parliament is to listen to the different opinions of MPs, not only to those of individual representatives from a given party represented but to the members from a single party with different viewpoints. Mrs. Boothroyd called fair play the leitmotif of her official work.
The experience of Mrs. Boothroyd herself can be very demonstrative as well — the first lady speaker in Great Britain, the first speaker who has represented the opposition in the last two hundred years. Mrs. Boothroyd confessed that before she became a Member of Parliament, she had had to take part in elections seven times without success. Meanwhile, it is already the second term that Mrs. Boothroyd has been in the position of Speaker. Very soon she will resign.
