Governments will have to give up their "astonishingly arrogant" control of what is debated in Parliament if it is to stay relevant, Commons Speaker John Bercow said on a taxpayer-funded trip to New Zealand.

Mr Bercow joked that ministers would find it enticing if he was permanently 12,000 miles away as he described the UK's current system of different government departments having fixed allotted questions sessions as antiquated.

The Speaker also said the notion of geographical constituencies will be hard to continue as MPs are seen in the context of their support of certain causes, as he laid out his support for an "e-democracy", using Estonia as an example.

Last month, it was revealed that Mr Bercow had run up a bill of nearly £100,000 on official travel over the past three years.

During the speech, Mr Bercow said Britain's 2015 General Election will be "a long way behind the times" compared to Estonia's election in the same year, where at least half the votes are expected to be cast online.

Labour MP Graham Allen, who chairs the Political and Constitutional Select Committee, congratulated Mr Bercow on his speech, saying Government's domination of Parliament meant the UK's democracy was not fit for purpose.

He said: "Government dominates the very institution which is meant to hold it to account. Until that changes, our democracy cannot be fit for purpose."