Archive for Parliament
The other issue Lib Dem peers can win on tomorrow
Moves in the House of Lords to amend the health and welfare bills have been getting the lion’s share of recent coverage, but this week sees a quartet of Liberal Democrat peers leading the charge on a different topic – the Legal Aid Bill. Lib Dem Lords Thomas, Carlile, Clement Jones and Phillips have a [...]
How well do you know the British Prime Ministers?
A quick history quiz for the weekend: only five recent Prime Ministers have not subsequently taken a seat in the House of Lords. Who are the five? Three you should find quite easy, a fourth not too hard if you are an older reader, but the fifth may surprise – or make you think “oh, [...]
Secret Royal influence or journalists not reading Hansard?
I’m not an expert in this area, so there’s one thing that really puzzles me about the Guardian’s splash about the “secretive” process by which the Prince of Wales is asked to approve certain legislation: it doesn’t seem to me to be anything new. Obscure perhaps, but not new. Which is why I took a [...]
The top five London MPs for outside earnings
Via a survey carried out for LondonlovesBusiness.com comes this list of the top five London MPs for annual outside earnings on top of their MP salary of £65,738: Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP for Kensington (Con) – upwards of £240,000 Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich (Lab) - £60,657 Mark Field, MP for Cities of London and [...]
An Early Day Motion to change Early Day Motions
Never let it be said that self-referentiality is dead in Parliament. I give you Early Day Motion 432 for 2010-11 which calls for EDMs to be reformed or abolished. EDMs have come in for a fair degree of flack (and it’s hard to see what the David Hasselhoff And Morecambe Winter Gardens EDM really achieved). [...]
Want a copy of Parliament’s rules? That’ll be £268.40
Erskine May is the House of Commons rulebook – but if you want to get a copy, it’ll cost you £268.40 from a commercial publisher, and Parliament has said no to a request for a free electronic copy from a member of the public. The origins are typical of the British constitution. Erskine May started [...]
Parliament starts publishing details of rulings on MPs
A small step-forward for accountability – the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standard’s recommendation from before the election for the details of his rulings to be published online has recently been implemented, along with a couple of year...
Three simple ways to reform EDMs, without harming the fibreglass sheep
Dizzy Thinks has been on the case again about the costs run by Early Day Motions in Parliament. As he delicately puts it: Yes, we really do have to spend £150K alone on the salary, pension and NI contributions for the poor sods that have to sort out the latest self-congratulatory bollocks that our MPs [...]
“Appalled and embarrassed” – Paul Tyler on attitudes in the House of Lords
“Appalled and embarrassed” – that is how Liberal Democrat peer and Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson Paul Tyler described his reaction to the attitude and behaviour of some members of the House of Lords: I have been appalled and embarrassed by the number of Peers, even including a few former Cabinet Ministers, who use the place as a [...]
Never let it be said that Parliament tried to micro-manage elections
Hansard, 15 March 1950, brings us this gem: Lieut.-Commander Hutchison asked the Postmaster-General whether, in order to avoid unnecessary expense and to economise in the use of paper, he will amend paragraph 6 of the Regulation made under Section 79 of the Representation of the People Act, 1949, so as to permit folders of a maximum [...]
