Each year, a question is usually tabled to find out the annual total costs, and the cost per member, of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the European Parliament. At the end of last month, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury gave the costs as follows: HOUSE OF COMMONS Annual cost: £392m…
The personal, not the political. The stream of newspaper supplements, plays, documentaries, is upsetting me even more than it did at the time. Like everyone else, I remember the moment well. I was at a party at Oxford, which broke up as the news came through. A fellow student invited me back to his room…
I am extremely honoured to have been made a fellow of Birkbeck University recently. Birkbeck makes an important contribution by providing evening study which enables people to run a home or do a job at the same time as taking a degree. Birkbeck also encourages people without traditional qualifications to get involved. Here are four relevant…
‘No cause can be won between dinner and tea, and most of us who were married had to work with one hand tied behind us, so to speak’. These were the words of Hannah Mitchell, a suffragette, written in the 1940s. They still ring true today. Women’s ability to win a cause, or even their…
Today I will be asking colleagues to support my motion calling for Part 2 of the Lobbying Bill to be paused. The vote will happen immediately before the start of the debate on the Bill. It is hard to think of another issue that could unite Conservative Home, Labour List, the Countryside Alliance and the…
The Royal Charter on Press Regulation has been signed off by the Queen on the advice of the Privy Council. Members of the public probably think that when the Queen in Privy Council is considering a new Charter, she sits with the wisest men and women of the realm, deliberating, drafting, listening to the pros…
The Transparency of Lobbying Bill has given rise to concerns in the charity sector as to the impact this may have on their ability to influence policy development particularly in the run up to future General Elections. At its heart this issue is about where policy work crosses over into campaigning. The charity sector enjoys…
15-21 November is Parliament Week– an annual event that raises awareness about Parliament and democratic life in the UK. This year, the theme is ‘Women in Democracy’, and I am pleased to support it. My first job was at Barings bank in the 1980s and I was one of the first female executives to work there. At the time,…
Some of the most rewarding – and effective – policy initiatives I have been involved with have been deliberately cross-party. As so many decisions need to be “future-proofed”, and as Parliament becomes more multi-party and less tribal, more work of this kind is both inevitable and welcome. After producing draft bills on Lords Reform (with…
