As I have detailed in a post on my own blog, it has been one of those weeks. (Mind you, most weeks are.) I returned today from a conference on Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament and am in the process of catching up on paperwork. I fear a consequence has been that I have…
When I was a member of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Renewal Bill, we occasionally had problems maintaining a quorum. Under the rules for a quorum, three MPs had to be present; this in some meetings proved difficult to maintain. When there was just three in attendance and one rose to leave (it was…
A Government nowadays usually comprises over 120 ministers, with twenty to thirty drawn from the House of Lords. The figure includes whips, who in the House of Lords fufil additional functions to those carried out by whips in the House of Commons. In the Commons, whips are usually seen but not heard. In the Lords,…
The Second Reading debate on the Health and Social Care Bill begins on Tuesday. I say ‘begins’ because so many peers will be speaking that the debate is now being spread over two days, with the House sitting early on both days. No less than 100 peers are signed up to speak. Anyone wishing to watch…
The Constitution Committee has published a report on the Health and Social Care Bill. The remit of the committee is confined to the constitutional implications of the Bill and we are concerned that the Bill, in its current form, risks diluting the Government’s constitutional responsibilities with regard to the NHS. You can read the report…
