A number of Bills each year are now published in draft and subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. The scrutiny is usually undertaken by the relevant Departmental Select Committees in the Commons, but some are sent to a Joint Committee of both Houses. I have previously served on two such committees. This week I was appointed to…
It is not just in the Commons that Private Members’ Bills attract interest. In the Lords, there is no ballot at the beginning of the session (or rather, taking up Lord Tyler’s earlier point, no random selection). Instead, peers introduce Bills at the start of the session – there is value in getting in early…
Following the recall of both Houses on Wednesday for tributes to Baroness Thatcher, I thought it appropriate that the quiz should focus on the era of the Thatcher Government. The number of peers speaking in Wednesday’s sitting reflected the experience many had during the period of the Thatcher premiership. This explains both the length of the…
Both Houses have been recalled tomorrow (Wednesday) for the tributes to Baroness Thatcher. The occasion in the Lords will be especially interesting given that most, though not quite all, of those who served in the Thatcher Cabinets sit in the House, as do Lord Powell of Bayswater (her Private Secretary) and Lord Armstrong (Cabinet Secretary), among…
The number of women in the House of Lords has increased in recent years, not least on the cross-benches as a result of nominations by the Independent Appointments Commission. However, the political parties have also nominated women peers, some of them drawn from the ranks of those who have distinguished themselves in the House of…
