There are estimated to be more than 5 million British nationals living abroad, with about 3 million of these being entitled to be on the electoral register in the UK. At the end of 2011, fewer than 30,000 were registered. The extent of non-registration came up in debate in the last session of Parliament and last…
The House yesterday debated the report from the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege. I was one of those who spoke in the debate. (You can read the speech here.) The report was a measured and helpful report, arguing against having a statutory codification of privilege and instead putting the case for flexibility. It made a number…
On Thursday, the House of Lords approved various orders under the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 to enable same-sex marriages to take place. You can read the debate here. The Government has managed to complete the necessary administrative action ahead of schedule, with the effect that the first marriage will be able to take place…
The Constitution Committee of the House has today published its report on Constitutional implications of coalition government. You can read the report here. Among its recommendations are that as far as possible the convention of collective responsibility should continue to apply under a coalition government and that, where parties in a coalition cannot agree, there should…
On Tuesday, the House had a question for short debate (QSD) on the recent report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) on its survey of public attitudes towards standards in public life. The survey reflects a continuing lack of confidence in politicians, as distinct from institutions. The debate was initiated by the…
