Last week I was in Brussels to participate in a joint parliamentary meeting of national parliamentarians and members of the European parliament to discuss Europe’s response to the challenges beyond the current crisis. The British parliament was represented by two members of the House of Lords, Lord Haskins and myself. Most of the participants were…
There are a number of events on the horizon which together will re-ignite the debate about the future of the House of Lords. The Bill on Alternative Voting Systems and Constitutional Reform. Our new expenses. The expected influx of new Peers and the forthcoming report on Peers’ retirement. Only later will we have the proposals for an…
Earlier this week I put down a Question asking the government how they assess value for money in public spending. I was prompted to ask the question when I heard the Prime Minister say that there was more to life than money. He said it in the context of the extra value we get from sport,…
As most of us had read or heard the CSR statement read out in the House of Commons, there was some debate as to whether it was necessary to repeat it in the House of Lords. We decided it was and it was read out again – all 65 minutes of it. This left little…
