Another week, another campaign by members of the public to get me to vote one way or another on a certain issue. Of course we peers welcome the views of the public, and as a crossbencher I am not whipped, I am not bound to vote in any particular way except as my conscience dictates. So…
As I mentioned in my previous post, we discussed lobbying at this year’s Study of Parliament Group meeting. The focus of the debate was last week’s report of the Public Administration Committee in the Commons recommending, among other things, a mandatory register of lobbyists. A point made in defence of lobbyists was that, though parliamentary outreach…
I have spent the weekend at the annual meeting of the Study of Parliament Group. It is my thirty-second year of consecutive attendance. The Group brings together academics with an interest in Parliament (or parliaments) and officials (clerks, librarians etc) of both Houses of Parliament, as well as some officials from devolved and other assemblies. This…
