WORCESTERSHIRE'S MPs headed away for the Christmas break with thoughts of changing Parliament's working hours again.

A year ago, the sitting times were changed to make the Commons more "family friendly".

Monday remained the same, with a 2.30pm start to allow MPs to travel down from their constituencies.

But Tuesdays and Wednesdays were brought in line with Thursdays, kicking-off at 11.30pm.

This has allowed important Government statements to make the 1pm news and - by and large - confined late-night sittings to the dustbin of history.

Hacks have been very happy with the new arrangements.

Previously, we had to wait until 4pm before being hit with the ridiculously complicated Local Government spending settlement, or Gordon Brown's thoughts on the state of the economy.

Now we get much longer to make sense of the nonsensical and have a reasonable chance of getting to bed before dawn.

But the MPs, who are practically nocturnal, are far from happy.

More than 200 of them are now calling for a rethink - including Peter Luff and Sir Michael Spicer (above).

The most common complaint is that days are now "too busy".

Announcements, debates in the main chamber of the Commons and Westminster Hall all take place at the same time.

Peter, whose job as a whip means he must keep a close eye on proceedings, says he no longer has time to meet constituents.

If they visit Westminster, he can no longer take them for a cup of tea, food etc.

He also points out they would have to make a very early start to get to the capital for Prime Minister's Questions, at 12 noon on a Wednesday.

And then there is collegiality, he says. MPs, waiting for late night votes, would go to eat or drink together.

Labour MPs dined with Labour MPs, Tories with Tories etc, and it gave them a sense of belonging and being part of the same team.

The Commons authorities have a commitment to look at the hours again early next year.

While Peter and Sir Michael are looking for change, I'll be hoping they stay the same.

But if they do change back, there will be one positive.

Prime Minister's Questions used to be much rowdier when it was 3pm - as a good few MPs had enjoyed liquid lunches and liked to scream at each other across the chamber.