Articles on themes including the mental wellbeing of politicians, the efficacy of the petitions system in the UK Parliament and devolved legislatures, the rate of equivocacy in former Prime Minister Theresa May’s answers during PMQs, the emergence of international inter-parliamentary institutions, and more.
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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.
Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 3, 2020)
Articles on themes including the development of Sweden’s now 100-year-old parliamentary democracy, strategic voting among Lib Dem supporters in the 2015 general election, policy areas associated with personal attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions, UK intergovernmental relations and spending after the Conservative-DUP ‘confidence and supply’ deal, and more.
Ireland’s new Parliament: Political and physical change coincide amid Covid-19 crisis
In Ireland, the Covid-19 crisis collided with a ‘change election’, the formation of a historic coalition government and the ‘end of Civil War politics’. But the pandemic sucked much of the oxygen out of a heightened political atmosphere, and also occasioned the physical relocation of Parliament, challenging the institution’s operation and culture.
Procedure under Coronavirus restrictions: written evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee
Submitting evidence before the House was to take further decisions on its Coronavirus arrangements, we decried the Leader of the House’s decision to end hybrid proceedings and remote voting as "over-hasty, poorly thought-through, unwise and unnecessary". Our recommendations covered House business, risk management, delegated legislation and select committees.
The new review of Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster: five possible outcomes
The new review of the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal project opens up a range of different outcomes for the future of the building. However, with the alarming state of the Palace not changed by the Coronavirus, the government should not use the pandemic as an excuse to downgrade or delay the much-needed repairs.