The recent spat over whether a Bill should be taken in Grand Committee or on the floor of the House rather masks the more important limitation of committee scrutiny. Whether a Bill is taken for committee stage in Grand Committee or on the floor is not a major issue. Grand Committee is not a committee in…
When Lord Goodlad’s committee on working practices in the House suggested we should normally sit at 2.00pm rather than 2.30pm I had thought it rather non-contentious. Turns out not! Quite a lot of murmurings from the back-benches about rushing lunch guests through lunch, as if they couldn’t start their entertaining half an hour earlier. And…
The Report of the Leader’s Group on the Working Practices of the House was published today. You can see the announcement and link to the report here.
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…
