As soon as recess began yesterday we came down to Italy for a few days change from what has been a depressing few weeks in the Lords. I have a completely different take on what happened in the last stages of the passage of the PVSC bill from Lord Knight. But before I get onto…
The Commons rose yesterday for Christmas and the Lords rise today. MPs and peers are decanting Westminster as quickly as they can, a combination of a desire to get away and to get home before the weather gets any worse. My attachment to the place is such that I am never in any hurry to…
Peter Hennessy is one of our foremost contemporary historians. He was introduced into the Lords on 25 November and he made his maiden speech yesterday during the Second Reading debate on the House of Lords Reform Bill (the Steel Bill). He made clear where he now stands on the issue of an elected House: “I…
The House of Commons was sitting last week and again this week. It has been busy with the Second Readings of the Government’s two major constitutional measures (the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill and the Fixed-Term Parliaments Bill). The House of Lords is not sitting, but the fact that MPs are in session has…
Over the past few decades, Parliament has become a much more open institution and has sought to enhance its links with citizens. There is already a substantial flow of correspondence between constituents and MPs – and the volume has grown substantially in recent years – but there have been problems at the institutional level. How…
