This special issue of Parliamentary Affairs brings together comparative research across European legislatures to see how much influence MPs’ day-to-day legislative and scrutiny work has on voters when they head to the polls. This issue also includes then-Commons Speaker John Bercow’s 2016 Bernard Crick Lecture, ‘Designing for Democracy’.
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What to look out for in Parliament in Autumn 2020
Politics in Autumn 2020 will continue to be dominated by Coronavirus and the negotiations with the EU, as the end of the post-Brexit transition period approaches on 31 December. But what will this mean for parliamentary business in the coming months, and what scope will there be to tackle other issues? We pick 15 things to look out for.
How is the Petitions Committee representing the public amid the procedural and practical restrictions of the Covid crisis?
Catherine McKinnell MP, Chair of the House of Commons Petitions Committee, sets out how the Covid-19 crisis has significantly increased the public’s use of e-petitions while limiting the House’s ability to debate them. This has prompted the Committee to innovate, to ensure that petitioners’ voices are heard during the crisis.
Demands to recall the House of Commons over this summer’s exams fiasco reinforce the case for taking the process out of government hands
In a crisis the House of Commons is hamstrung if it is in recess, for MPs are not masters of their own House. While any MP can make representations to the government and the House of Commons Speaker to request a recall, under Standing Orders only a formal request from ministers to the Speaker can actually trigger one.
Parliaments and Coronavirus (collection)
The Coronavirus pandemic has presented parliaments with significant technical, procedural and political challenges, at Westminster and around the world. This page brings together our Covid-19 content, covering the UK Parliament’s adaptation to the crisis, UK Coronavirus-related Statutory Instruments, and the responses of other legislatures around the world.
Why MPs should back the Djanogly amendments to the Trade Bill on parliamentary scrutiny of trade agreements
MPs should take the opportunity to show the government and their constituents that they want to have more say on free trade agreements than they did when the UK was inside the EU.
Financial Scrutiny: the Estimates Cycle
In order to incur expenditure the government needs to obtain approval from Parliament for its departmental spending plans. The annual Estimates process is the means by which the House of Commons controls the government’s plans for the spending of money raised through taxation.