A few weeks ago I went to Khartoum for the first time, as part of a delegation from the House of Lords on the invitation of the University of Khartoum to attend their peace and reconciliation conference. For me, this was to be no ordinary trip, but an exciting and often moving return to the land my great grandfather left,…
A number of Bills each year are now published in draft and subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. The scrutiny is usually undertaken by the relevant Departmental Select Committees in the Commons, but some are sent to a Joint Committee of both Houses. I have previously served on two such committees. This week I was appointed to…
Good launch on Wednesday with Mark Harper, the immigration minister of the UK China Visa Alliance. They’re trying to make it easier for high spending Chinese tourists to enter the Country – at the moment we get five times fewer of these than France – because a Schengen visa gets you to 26 European countries…
It is not just in the Commons that Private Members’ Bills attract interest. In the Lords, there is no ballot at the beginning of the session (or rather, taking up Lord Tyler’s earlier point, no random selection). Instead, peers introduce Bills at the start of the session – there is value in getting in early…
Though I mean no disrespect to Her Majesty, I cannot bring myself to get cloaked up in ermine each year, to hear her tell us what “her” government will do. The scene of peers all huddled in their red dressing gowns is endlessly recycled in the media – whenever the Lords is mentioned – despite…
Here is a link to my contribution to the debate in Parliament about the Severn barrage, on the 2nd April 2013.
The end of a Parliamentary session is always a slightly fraught time as the Government of the day seeks to wrap up proceedings on the Bills in progress. So late night sitting, fierce debates and short tempers are the order of the day. This year has been no exception. An issue with which I have…
I am writing this as I travel from Scotland to London, Monday ‘lunchtime’, halfway through Live Below the Line 2013. My 5 day challenge began on Friday at midnight, and after a weekend of porridge, soup and a baked potato cautiously shared across two days, I am probably lighter but certainly nervous about coping in…
In the closing days of the session that has just ended, the Government were defeated twice in the House of Lords on an amendment to the Equality Act, inserted into the Enterprise Bill, to make caste a legally protected characteristic. Ministers then gave in, so that after years of campaigning by organisations representing the…
