This June 2017 briefing paper sets out the procedures and events that mark the first days and weeks of a new Parliament after a General Election and shape the operation of the Parliament thereafter, with reference to the start of the 2017 Parliament.
The paper covers institutional steps required at the start of a new Parliament, such as the election of the House of Commons Speaker and Deputy Speakers, the swearing-in of MPs, and the establishment of select committees in both Houses and the election or appointment of their chairs and members. The paper also addresses the handling of the first items of business, such as the Queen's Speech, a possible Budget, and the Private Members’ Bill ballots in both Houses.
The paper's concluding section identified 11 institutional and procedural issues facing the Parliament elected in 2017.
Introduction
First Week: Speaker's Election
First Week: Swearing-In
The Queen's Speech
Election of Deputy Speakers
Select Committees
Opposition Parties
The Budget and Estimates
Private Members' Bill Ballots
Issues for the 2017 Parliament
The Rwanda Bill has made it over the parliamentary finishing line but not without some last-minute drama. We talk to the SNP’s Alison Thewliss MP about what went on in a small room, behind the Speaker’s Chair, away from the cameras!
To mark the Hansard Society’s 80th anniversary we are launching the Churchill-Attlee Democracy Lecture in honour of our first members, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. The inaugural lecture will be given by former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Theresa May MP. This is a fundraising event for our 80th Anniversary Appeal. Date & location: Tuesday 14 May 2024, 7:00-8:15pm, Westminster (venue to be announced) Tickets: £25
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.
The Climate Change Act 2008 established a framework for setting carbon budgets every five years. But the role of Parliament in approving these budgets has been widely criticised, including by the Prime Minister. The Environmental Audit Committee has proposed improvements in the scrutiny process to ensure effective climate action, particularly in the context of the UK’s commitment to achieving 'Net Zero' emissions by 2050. These reforms will significantly alter the way Parliament handles the Seventh Carbon Budget in 2025.
The Government’s flagship Tobacco and Vapes Bill will ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009. The genesis of the delegated powers in the Bill – dating back a decade - tells an important story about the way in which incomplete policy-making processes are used by Ministers to seek ‘holding’ powers in a Bill, only for that precedent to then be used to justify further, broader powers in subsequent Bills. This ‘creeping’ effect in the legislative process undermines parliamentary scrutiny of ministerial action.
