Congratulations to Jonathan and Jason Lower, who were winners of the previous quiz. As they and other contributors showed, the House is not short of members with experience of the press. This time, the questions relate to peers who are not permitted to sit while holding particular offices. As usual, the first two readers to…
The Joint Committee on the draft House of Lords Reform Bill at its first meeting agreed the text for its call for evidence and that has now been published. You can find details here. There is also a link to the White Paper and the draft Bill. Submissions are invited on all aspects of the…
When the Constitution Committee of the House of Lords was created in 2001 – I was the first chairman – one of the the first reports we did was on the process of constitutional change. The Committee returned to the subject this year and has just published The Process of Constitutional Change, noting in effect that the situation…
The House has elected a new Lord Speaker: Baroness D’Souza (pictured). She will take up the post on 1 September, succeeding Baroness Hayman. You can read details, including the breakdown of the votes, here. Baroness D’Souza led in every round, being elected, after four candidates were eliminated, by 296 votes to 285 for Lord Colwyn.
I would just add a few words to what Lord Tyler has written about the power to subpoena witnesses. I was asked yesterday by a journalist whether a select committee had the power to require someone who was not a UK citizen to appear before it. I pointed out that select committees in the Commons …
