New peers continue to be introduced while the House discusses how to reduce the high membership. This week’s quiz focuses on new peers or those who are about to be introduced to the House. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners. 1. I have just been introduced. …
The biggest moment of the week for me in the Lords this week was the Schools White Paper statement. On these occasions it falls on the Lords minister to read out verbatim the words of the Commons minister. So the likeable Lord Hill read out the words of Michael Gove. They didn’t sound right coming…
For those interested in backbench dissent in the House of Commons, the website revolts.co.uk is back up and running. This is very valuable, given the scale of back-bench dissent. It reached new highs under the previous Labour government. However, it has reached levels unprecedented in post-war history under the new coalition government. To date, more…
As Lord Norton points out below the government experienced another defeat on Tuesday. There are very real concerns across the floor of the House about the way the Government is giving Ministers power to wind up, change or even sell off QUANGOS without going through a proper Parliamentary process. It is a classic case of…
The Government have suffered another defeat, this time on the Public Bodies Bill. Earlier today, Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved a pavement amendment for a later amendment to limit ministerial powers. In the light of the minister’s assurance that he would look again at the issue, Lord Lester sought to withdraw his amendment but…
The Liaison Committee of the House is responsible for receiving proposals for new committees – be they permanent or ad hoc – and making recommendations to the House. It has a reputation for being somewhat cautious, as it does not wish to duplicate the work of committees in the Commons or absorb unduly the resources…
The condition of Parliament Square is of interest to a number of Lords. Lord Norton has blogged on this site about the departure of the squatters and Lady Trumpington recently asked a question about it. I have tried twice to question the government about it. On the first occasion earlier this year the issue was sub judice, that…
On Thursday, Lord Maclennan initiated a debate on the need for active citizenship in society. I spoke and focused on citizenship education. There are reports that citizenship teaching in schools – it has been part of the national curriculum since 2002 – is under review and may possibly disappear. I made the case that there may have been…
This week’s quiz focuses on cross-bench peers. Those who sit on the cross-benches are drawn from a range of backgrounds. Some are elevated to the peerage after public service (such as former Cabinet Secretaries and Chiefs of the Defence Staff). Others join the House while still pursuing their professional activities. This week we focus on…
