Interregnum: First Protectorate Parliament 1654-1655

First Protectorate Parliament: 3rd September to 22nd January 1655

The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned under the terms of the Instrument of Government and consisted of a single chamber of 400 English and Welsh MPs with an additional 30 each from Scotland and Ireland. It was the first Westminster Parliament in which Scotlan and Ireland were represented.

• Cromwell had been Lord Protector for 9 months when the Parliament was called. During this time, he had worked with the Council of State to draft a large number of ordinances to present to Parliament for ratification.
• These ranged from financial and religious reforms to highway repair and the establishment of traffic regulations in London.
• Cromwell had high hopes for Parliament, but the free elections held during the summer of 1654 returned a House that included Presbyterians, republicans and even Royalist sympathisers, all of whom were hostile…