I agree with the broad thrust of Lord Norton’s comments below but I will not feel comfortable until our allowances and expenses are set by an independent body. That is what is now happening in the House of Commons with the creation of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority ( http://www.parliamentarystandards.org.uk/ ). Parliamentary sovereignty means that ultimately all recommendations of such…
Not surprisingly, the Lords has been getting some unfavourable coverage as a result of the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to prosescute Baroness Uddin in the light of the vague rules governing a peer’s principal residence. The Clerk of the Parliaments yesterday issued a statement explaining his interpretation. In it, he also refers to the…
A few straightforward questions this week to identify some peers who at some point have moved from one party to another or from one party to the cross-benches. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners. 1. I am a cross-bench peer, but I was elected to the…
The Report stage of the Personal Care at Home Bill is tabled for debate next Wednesday. I wonder how long the Government can hold on to it in the face of cross-party opposition. We have all been cheered by the perceptive ‘Third Report of the Commons Health Select Committee’ criticism of the bill published this…
Yesterday was something of a Lords of the Blog day in the Lords. Not surprisingly, the blog was mentioned in Lord Renton’s debate on the Information Committee’s report, Are the Lords Listening? It was also mentioned in debate on the Financial Services Bill. The Information Committee report was debated in Grand Committee. Lord Renton mentioned…
This message is addressed to dog lovers and dog haters alike! There has been continuing concern about dangerous dogs – sometimes seen as harmless dogs with dangerous/irresponsible owners – take your pick! There is a discussion starting about the value of putting a micro chip in every dog and giving the police greater powers to intervene when…
This very powerful and emotional case is bound to lead to intense speculation. We do not know for sure what is alleged and we do not want to prejudice any court proceedings – or I hope we don’t! There was a question in both Houses yesterday and in the Lords the judges and lawyers were…
Good news. I have secured time for a debate in the Lords on this Wednesday afternoon from 3.45pm on our report ‘Are the Lords Listening? Creating connections between people and Parliament’. Our report has certainly had some effect. Members of the House of Lords and the Administration are using the internet much more to describe…
