In response to my earlier post on ‘Adding Value’, Bedd Gelert asked how he could find information on the various procedural rules of the House. I replied that our basic guide is the Companion – or the Companion to the Standing Orders and the Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords to give it its…
I thought I would add to the debate on political engagement. It picks up on some of my previous comments. It is important that Parliament recognises that there are different types of ‘public’ with which it has to engage. One is what may be described as ‘attentive publics’, in essence organised interests (pressure groups, firms,…
What have the Rt Rev. John Charles, Bishop of Lincoln, and Eliza Manningham-Buller, former head of MI5, got in common? Answer: They were both introduced into the House of Lords today. The Bishop joins the House by reason of seniority, replacing a retiring Bishop. Baroness Manningham-Buller is, as far as I am aware, the first former head…
Compulsory voting is advocated by some politicians as a means of addressing the problem of political disengagement. Young people tend to have a low turnout rate but this has worsened in recent decades. Many people retain an interest in politics but express that interest through pressure group activity rather than through traditional means of joining…
Appearing before the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill yesterday, Labour MP Graham Allen repeated a proposal he has variously advocated: that is, knocking through the chamber of the Commons into the division lobbies, thus creating space for each MP to have a desk and to be able to vote electronically. In my earlier…
