Yesterday’s Second Reading debate on the Digital Economy Bill produced some good speeches: the most telling critiques of the Bill were provided by Lord Lucas on the Conservative benches and Lord Whitty on the Labour benches. The debate is well worth reading. The first speaker on the Conservative side was former Cabinet minister, Lord Fowler,…
Each session, some of the Bills promised in the Government’s programme begin their passage in the Lords. Among those being introduced in the House this session is the Digital Economy Bill. It had its Second Reading today. The Bill itself is not massive in size – 49 clauses and three schedules – but it nonetheless…
Thanks to ‘anonymous’ who contributed the following in a comment on the boingboing website at the end of last week: “Tangentially, you all might be interested in the ‘House of Lords’ blog – http://lordsoftheblog.net/. It is filled with thought-provoking commentary and insight about the bumpy but successful running of a parliamentary democracy. Raise your concerns…
This week’s quiz relates to peers who sit on the cross-benches, that is, peers with no party whip. They presently number almost two-hundred, have a convenor (Baroness d’Souza) and constitute the only grouping in the House with its own website. Their number has increased in recent years with the nominations made by the independent appointments commission,…
Now that the 2008-09 session has finished, some data on the session have been published. The average daily attendance was 400. There were 89 divisions during the session; the Government was defeated in 25 of them. The House sat later than 10.00 p.m. (its target rising time) on 37 out of the 134 sitting days. …
