Should Parliament simply overturn the convictions of postmasters caught up in the Post Office Horizon scandal? That’s what the Government proposes to do through the Post Office (Horizon system) Offences Bill. But quashing of convictions is normally a matter for the courts. Some MPs have misgivings about setting a constitutional precedent as well as practical concerns about how the Bill will be implemented. We talk to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Bob Neill MP.
Meanwhile, SNP MPs are furious that UK Ministers have declined to extend the provisions of the Bill to postmasters convicted north of the border. So why does the Bill apply to all other parts of the UK but not to Scotland? Does this tell us anything about the politics of devolution?
As Westminster braces for the local election results we discuss what to look out for – not just winners and losers but turnout and the size of the party swing - and the implications particularly for Rishi Sunak.
Following Conservative MP Dan Poulter’s defection to Labour we ask what does it take to cross the floor of the House of Commons? Is it an act of conscience or the act of a cynical turncoat? How often does it happen?
And we answer listener’s questions. Hypothetically, what would happen if a Prime Minister’s party retained a parliamentary majority at the general election, but the Prime Minister lost their seat?
Local election results: what will happen next?
Party defections: what does ‘crossing the floor’ of the House of Commons involve
Legislative oddities: late government amendment of Bills and unbalanced selection of witnesses
The Post Office (Horizon system) Offence Bill: why is it not being extended to Scotland?
Should Parliament overturn the postmasters’ convictions: why not leave it to the courts?
The Justice Select Committee: how much influence and leverage does it have?
Parliament Matters is supported by a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, a Quaker trust which engages in philanthropy and supports work on democratic accountability.
Sir Bob Neill MP is the Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst which he has represented since 2006. Prior to entering Parliament he was a barrister specialising in criminal law. Since 2015, Sir Bob has served as the chair of the Justice Select Committee in the House of Commons. Between 2010 and 2012 he also served as a minister in the then Department for Communities and Local Government, and subsequently as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party until 2015. He is the chair of three All Party Parliamentary Groups, for London, Gibraltar, and Stroke.
Hansard Society
The inside story: Parliament and the Post Office Horizon scandal, Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 15 (12 January 2024)
How does Parliament make laws? Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 13 (2 January 2024)
House of Commons Library
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You're listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm. 00:00:17:10 - 00:00:43:18 Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox, and I’m Mark D’Arcy. Coming up, the calm before the storm. Westminster braces for the local election results. Will they save Rishi Sunak or will they sink him? Act of conscience or cynical turncoat? As conservative MP Dan Poulter switches to Labour, what does it take to cross the floor of the House of Commons? 00:00:43:20 - 00:01:01:23 And should Parliament simply overturn the convictions of postmasters caught up in the horizon scandal en masse? We talk to chair of the House of Commons Justice Committee, Sir Bob Neill, about this and much more. 00:01:02:00 - 00:01:21:11 But first, Ruth, let's get started on those local elections now. We're speaking in that kind of caesura, that missing of a beat period where the voters are out there voting. The politicians can't really say or do much more than get out their voters to the polling stations. And so all is quiet until the results come. And the results this time are going to be rather dragged out. 00:01:21:12 - 00:01:42:04 The agony is extended, you might say, because with all these big metro mayoralties, they will be counting votes into Saturday afternoon. So quite a long time for the results to unfold. There'll be good news and bad news for all the parties, doubtless, as the results dribble out and Rishi Sunak will then have to handle the political aftermath. 00:01:42:05 - 00:02:02:07 But before we get on to that, both of us, I think, battled through the morning mist this morning to get to our respective polling stations, and the one thing you didn't have to battle was vast crowds of eager voters trying to get in there. We were the only people in our polling station, my other half and I when we went in, glancing at the register it looked like about 20 people had voted at about 8:00 in the morning. 00:02:02:07 - 00:02:19:11 So a pretty derisory turnout in my neck of the woods in Sussex, where the voting was purely on who's going to be the next police and crime commissioner. Well, same for me in an East Hertfordshire. So we just got a vote on the police and crime commissioner as well. And I actually asked the polling station staff, what's the turnout like? 00:02:19:11 - 00:02:34:16 And they said, oh, you’re our sixth voter and this was 8 a.m., so I was the voter that put them over the top. They've officially now had more voters than polling stations staff in the station. So it was slow. I think it's fair to say they were hoping for better as the day wears on.
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In a powerful Churchill Attlee Lecture commemorating the Hansard Society's 80th anniversary, former Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a stark warning about the state of democracy. She expressed grave concerns about the waning trust in democratic institutions, particularly among young people.
To mark the Hansard Society’s 80th anniversary, we have launched the Churchill-Attlee Democracy Lecture in honour of our first members, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. The inaugural lecture was given by former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Theresa May MP. All proceeds from ticket sales go to our 80th Anniversary Appeal. Date & location: Tuesday 14 May 2024, 7:00-8:30pm Westminster £10 tickets are now available for an online recording of the event.
Following the local election results, are we now in zombie Parliament territory? With no immediate general election in sight what can be achieved in Westminster before MPs finally make their rendezvous with the voters? We talk to Professor Tim Bale about defeat, defections and the internal dynamics of the Conservative Party.
The emerging role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping political discourse is a potential game changer. It has the capacity to fabricate fake interviews and manipulate images, all of which could mislead voters and disrupt the democratic process. But could it affect the results of our elections? We talk to Chris Morris, the head of factchecking organisation, Full Fact, about the threats posed by these technologies, the potential scale of misinformation in politics, and the measures politicians and political parties need to take to counteract them.
With a general election on the horizon there has been a spate of new legislation and regulations to implement changes to the way the election will be run, with consequences for voters and electoral administrators. Parliament has not always had a role in approving these changes. This briefing sets out the core changes to the electoral process that have been implemented since the last general election in 2019, the role that Parliament has played in scrutinising and approving them, and the risks arising from these changes.
