In view of recent comments I thought you might like to read the evidence I submitted to Sir John Baker’s review. Dear Sir John, Review of MPs’ pay and pensions I am writing as the former Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (1997-2001). In that capacity I gave evidence to the SSRB…
Much of the evidence we have taken in the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill has tended to be useful and rather worthy. There has been some disagreement, as for example over whether Parliament’s powers in relation to a decision to commit troops to action should be vested in statute or a parliamentary…
Carrying on Lord Tyler’s theme, I am always pleased when Ministers, faced with a question they haven’t been adequately briefed about and can’t answer from their own experience, say upfront that they will seek advice, or get further information and respond later. I think all of us in the Health and Social Care Bill Grand…
Three discussions in which I have been involved recently have swirled around the impact of the pressures of 24/7 news, instantaneous political pronouncements and the low public esteem for politicians. A research study on Tuesday morning got me thinking about this interaction, then a group around the Lord Speaker’s table took it further and, in the…
Lord Norton (see post below) expresses well peers’ sense of frustration when debates in the Lords have thrashed out an issue, such as the provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and Lords have given the bill very good support and yet the passage through our House has been almost entirely ignored. Of course…
I would just add a couple of comments to those of Baroness Murphy on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. There have been two things about the debate of the past week or so that have irritated me immensely. The first point I make wearing my parliamentary hat and the second wearing my academic hat. First, from…
I attended a Hansard Society meeting this evening to discuss e-petitions. The Procedure Committee in the Commons recently published a report recommending that petitions should be permitted to be submitted electronically. It proposed that the constituency MP of the petitioner be asked to serve as a facilitator, that the petitions be posted on the parliamentary website for…
Sitting here blogging while waiting on tenterhooks for the vote in the Commons on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. Musn’t watch more TV…I just heard a TV BBC 1 newsreader describe the debate on the creation of hybrid embryos for stem cell research as ‘a clash between science and ethics’. I was so angry…
The right to demonstrate is fundamental in a free society. People variously demonstrate in front of Parliament. However, the continued presence of one vocal demonstrator, Brian Haw, has caused particular controversy. His essentially permanent anti-war encampment on Parliament Square has aroused considerable opposition from parliamentarians and their staff. Some have objected because of the noise from…
