I agree with Lord Knight’s assessment of the Public Bodies Bill. It is making slow progress through the House. This is in part because of time being taken by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill and also because peers are keen to discuss the bodies included in the different schedules of the Bill. A number are…
It is tempting to blog on how the conventions in the Companion are being ripped up by the Government by not allowing time between the committee and report stages of the Parliamentary Bill. But I suspect interest in that legislative marathon is waning. As we wait and see whether a credible deal will be done…
This was the film where our hero found himself living the same day over and over again, and falling into the same traps. And so it was in the Moses Room on Tuesday when we debated the proposed dismembering of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and the Human Tissue Authority, and the transfer of…
The sexual exploitation of children and young people was the subject of a QSD, or ‘question for short debate’ yesterday afternoon in the Moses Room, prompted no doubt by the recent prosecutions in Derby. I was unable to contribute because I was committed to another All Party Parliamentary Group meeting that was starting just as…
I’m a Crossbench Peer and have tabled a debate in the House of Lords on good early parenting and its role in preparing a child for success at school this Thursday 3 February. It’s the first time the House of Lords and the BBC have run a pilot online initiative, asking for your views ahead…
You will have heard on the BBC that peers have reached a deal to end the filibuster relating to the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. You may not have realised that the deal was brokered by the crossbenchers, led by our Convenor, Baroness d’Souza. After taking the sense from all sides of what would move…
The extended debate on, and attempts to delay, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill have derived from some misunderstandings. One, variously expressed over the past few weeks, is that peers have to utilise the power of delay because the coalition now enjoys an effective majority in the House. However, it doesn’t. Up to the Christmas…
A most welcome statement from Lord Strathclyde an hour ago means we now know that the mammoth committee stage will be concluded on Thursday without more late nights. It seems like some sort of deal has been done. All will be revealed in Government amendments that we’ll debate next week. Sanity. At last.
The whole House is now hopeful that the last few weeks’ shenanigans on the part of a minority of Labour Peers can now be brought to an end, without further damage to the reputation of the Lords. I have been reminding colleagues across the House that Labour Peers themselves published a report all the way…
