MPs have received election addresses from seven of the 13 candidates who have put themselves forward to become speaker of the House of Commons.

However, the candidates considered to be the favourites to succeed Boothroyd have rejected the move and will not take part in a hustings scheduled for next Monday. Sir George Young and Sir Alan Haselhurst declined to take part and Labour favourite Michael Martin has yet to say whether he will take part in next week's event.

The election address and hustings plan was drawn-up by Labour MP Gordon Prentice who had earlier called for the system of election to be changed.

The candidates who have taken part in the mailshot are John Butterfill (Con, Bournemouth West), David Clark (Lab, South Shields), Sir Patrick Cormack (Con, South Staffordshire), Gwyneth Dunwoody (Lab, Crewe and Nantwich), Michael Lord (Con, Central Suffolk and North Ipswich), John McWilliam (Lab, Blaydon) and Nicholas Winterton (Con, Macclesfield). They will be joined by Lib Dem MP Alan Beith on the hustings next week.

Labour MP Peter Bradley has criticised the candidates who have decided to rule-out taking part in the hustings. "It is bad news that the front-runners have chosen not to provide manifestos or appear in the hustings, because it suggests that they would rather rely on the arcane and Byzantine rules than win the support of their colleagues in an open election. I would find it extremely difficult to vote for a candidate if I didn't know what they stood for. I want to be able to hold the Speaker to account once he or she is in the post. If you sent United Nations observers to this election, they would declare that it wasn't free and fair," he said.

Another MP, Martin Salter, has joined with Tony Benn in calling on the House authorities to change the rules ahead of next week's election. Under current plans, Sir Edward Heath will take the chair and oversee a complex system of election during which one candidate is tabled as a motion and others, one at a time, will compete as an amendment to that motion. Salter said the current system was based on "a bizarre procedure that can only further diminish the public's already low opinion of parliament."

Benn has announced that he is planning to move an amendment to the standing orders governing the election to see each candidate represented by a mover and seconder, who would speak on their candidate's behalf before a secret ballot is taken. Under his plan, the two candidates with the most votes would then go forward to a second round, in which victory would go to the one who achieves simple majority in the aye or no lobby.