Archived Press Releases
For media enquiries, please contact:
Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager
T: 020 7438 1225
M: 07812 765552
mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk
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‘Time is the oxygen of Parliament'. So said the now Leader of the House Sir George Young MP in a speech to the Hansard Society in March, setting out his party's agenda for parliamentary and legislative reform and the need for improvements to enable MPs to ‘undertake scrutiny in a measured and considered manner'.
But four months on, the parliamentary session ends with the Academies Bill securing Royal Assent after just one week of debate and consideration by elected members in the House of Commons. The coalition government's approach to the timing of new bills demonstrates that MPs are not being given the time and space to undertake scrutiny in a considered manner.
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Young people want face-to-face contact with politicians and
a two-way discussion on social media.
www.headsup.org.uk
Young people on the HeadsUp.org.uk forum Politics
and Politicians...what needs to change? place as much importance on face-to-face
contact as they do on digital forms of engagement with politicians. Forum users
said that digital engagement is good if used properly, but it is not a
replacement for "actually getting out and about and talking".
Users of HeadsUp.org.uk,
which came runner up in the Empowering
Young People and Citizens category at the 2010 Nominet Internet Awards,
insisted that genuine engagement was very important to them, but only if their
ideas and suggestions were listened to and taken into account. Although some
expressed a preference for face-to-face engagement, most also accepted that if digital
engagement was welcome if it was a two way dialogue.
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Record number of parliamentarians to debate with under 18s on
HeadsUp online forum
The current HeadsUp forum Politics
and Politicians: what needs to change? has a record 19
decision-makers taking part, including seven new MPs, demonstrating an
enthusiasm from the new Parliament for engaging with young people and understanding
their views on politics.
The online forum - Politics
and Politicians: what needs to change? is running from 21 June - 9 July and
will allow young people to have their say on the new government's plans so far,
the role of an MP, young people's representation in Parliament and much more.
They will be discussing these issues with 19 decision-makers including; Peers,
new MPs, shadow and serving Ministers:
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Why can't I vote at my ATM?
The practicalities of the ballot box.
June 23, 6.45pm, Portcullis House, Westminster
Chair: Dr. Andy Williamson (Director, Digital Democracy Programme, Hansard Society).
Speakers: Tom Harris MP; Jason Kitcat (Open Rights Group); Jenny Watson (Chair, Electoral Commission).
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Parliamentary reform: the Coalition
Government's agenda after Wright
A speech by Leader of the House of Commons,
Rt. Hon. Sir George Young MP
June 16, 6.30pm, Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, Westminster
Chaired by Peter Riddell, Chair, Hansard Society
Members of the media are invited to attend - to book your place please email mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk or phone 020 7438 1225
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The Speaker of the House of Commons Rt Hon John Bercow MP
gives speech to the Hansard Society tomorrow:
Reform in a New Parliament: Reviving the Chamber
Wednesday June 9, 6pm - 8pm, Attlee Suite, Portcullis House, Westminster
Chaired by Peter Riddell, Hansard Society
The speech will be followed by Q&A session
To attend, contact mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk or phone 0208 438 1225
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The Liberal Democrats win twice the amount of seats as the Conservatives and over three times as many as Labour with a massive 50.7% of the seats across the country.
The results of the 2010 Y
Vote Mock Election and Google School Elections involving over 250,000 young
people are now in and they show that young people support the Liberal Democrats
as the party that they believe should be in Government. Students gave the Liberal Democrats a narrow
majority over the other parties - 50.7% of the seats in constituencies where
Mock Elections were held. The
Conservative Party achieved 24.9% of the vote and Labour came in third, being
elected in only 15.9% of seats. This of
course differs wildly from the real general election result, in which Labour
achieved 39% of the vote.
Smaller parties achieved 8% of seats collectively, doing much better than smaller parties in the General Election, where they achieved 4% of seats.
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Significant new measures needed if improvements in
women's representation in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are to be
sustained
A report
commissioned by the British Council and produced by the Hansard Society, concludes
that the battle for fair and equal representation of women is far from won and
urgent new action is needed if the progress made in Edinburgh and Cardiff over
the last decade is to be sustained in the next one. Has
Devolution Delivered for Women? , written by Joyce McMillan and
Ruth Fox, explores the progress that has been made in improving the levels of
female representation in the devolved legislatures over the last 10 years,
analyses how this happened and what obstacles now threaten that progress. It
explores the impact that women have had on the culture of politics in Scotland
and Wales and the policy commitments that have been secured as a result of
their leadership.
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Young people do
not rate the same issues as important at
election time
HeadsUp.org.uk,
the innovative online forum for 11-18 year olds, has found that young people
care about significantly different issues from adults when it comes to
politics. The latest online forum, which ran throughout the general election (report
available to download here), found that although young people and adults
agree that the economy is important, they disagree on their priorities for
other political issues.
Read the full report here
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After weeks of election campaigning, hustings, opinion polls and debate, Harrogate Grammar School's Mock Election is won by Tom Spain in a landslide victory for the ‘Tomunist Alliance' party.