A Prime Minister can appoint as many ministers as he or she wishes. However, there is a statutory limit on the number that can be in receipt of a ministerial salary. Under the Ministers and Other Salaries Act 1975, no more than 109 ministers can be in receipt of salaries. Under the House of Commons…
I see that in response to Lord Taylor’s recent post, Alex has commented: “there is no point to the house of lords – they are unelected and just use up our taxes. their only power is to delay bills by one year”. That completely misunderstands the House of Lords. The cost to the public purse…
There are three noteworthy features of the appointment of Peter Mandelson, Stephen Carter and Paul Myners to ministerial rank and the elevation of all three to the peerage. First, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform means that the Lords acquires a…
The ministerial changes announced today have a major impact on the House of Lords. The Leader of the House, Baroness Ashton, leaves Government to become an EU Commissioner (in place of Peter Mandelson). Her place is taken by the Chief Whip, Baroness Royall. A new Chief Whip has yet to be announced. Peter Mandelson will…
I spoke last week to students at Franklin College, Grimsby, and to Hansard Society scholars in London on the British Constitution. The topic, as it tends to, generated a range of questions. Yesterday, I spoke on the role of the House of Lords to Y12 and Y13 students at Brackenhale School in Bracknell, Berkshire. What…
