Bills have a long gestation – not uncommonly two years during which time a bill team from the relevant government department undertakes the drafting process. So when a bill reaches either House of Parliament it is already the product of much debate and discussion and legal wrangling. In the Lords, the opposition parties have ‘frontbench…
The next few months will see the arrival in the Lords of what could be called ‘big beast’ bills. Chief among these is the Coroners and Justice Bill. It had its First Reading just before Easter recess having left the House of Commons with some Clauses untouched by any kind of debate. So the Lords faces the task…
Today the House of Lords Appointments Commission published measures to strengthen the criteria for appointment to the House. In future instead of vaguely agreeing to attend, future nominees have to commit the time necessary to make an effective contribution: they must be resident in the UK for tax purposes and they have to confirm that…
I left for Cairo on Friday morning and on arrival was immediately plunged into a discourse between the two parts of the Egyptian bicameral parliament, the People’s Assembly and the Shura (Consultative) Council. I was there at the invitation of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Egyptian based Alliance for Arab Women to talk about…
Last Thursday the House of Lords (Members’ Taxation Status) Bill reached Committee stage in the Chamber of the House. Briefly the Bill, tabled by a LibDem peer, seeks to ensure that those peers who sit in the House must be registered to pay UK tax and therefore resisdent in the UK. It doesn’t take a…
