In our 100th episode, we take stock of Parliament one year after the 2024 general election. With a fractured opposition, a dominant Labour government, and a House of Commons still governed by rules designed for a two-party system, how well is this new Parliament really functioning?
Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
We examine the rise in political defections – is this the social media age at work, making it easier for MPs to leave their parties and harder for party leaders to keep control?
One year after the King’s Speech, we also explore how Keir Starmer’s government is echoing the habits of its predecessors – rushing through vague “skeleton bills” that grant ministers wide powers with little oversight. Meanwhile, MPs continue to be sidelined from properly scrutinising major international agreements, and Parliament still lacks a mechanism for keeping track of the UK’s evolving relationship with the EU.
This episode looks ahead at the challenges facing scrutiny and accountability as 10% budget cuts loom across the Commons. We reflect on the experiences of a new generation of MPs – many frustrated by outdated rules, creaking infrastructure, and a political culture badly in need of renewal.
Can the House of Commons modernise itself before crisis forces change? Plus: the assisted dying bill as a crash course in lawmaking for new MPs, and why Prime Minister’s Questions remains as theatrical – and infuriating – as ever.
Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There may consequently be minor errors and the text is not formatted according to our style guide. If you wish to reference or cite the transcript copy below, please first check against the audio version above.
Intro: [00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm..
Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.
Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy. And this week we are a hundred not out. This is the hundredth edition of this podcast.
Ruth Fox: So we thought we'd celebrate by looking back at the first year of this Parliament and of Keir Starmer's government.
Mark D'Arcy: And Ruth, the thing that really strikes me about the way this Parliament has had to work is the level of political fragmentation. This is not the traditional kind of bipolar Parliament where there's a government and then there's an opposition, and there are a few bit players scrambling around on the sidelines.
We have an absolutely [00:01:00] enormous government party in Labour, albeit elected on just a third of the vote and the quirk of the electoral system. There is something that's worth looking at. And then we have a unusually small Conservative opposition party, an unusually large third party in the Lib Dems, and then a collection of smaller parties whose numbers are going up and down like a yo-yo half the time with various sort of defections and movements between them.
You've got the Greens, you've got Reform, you've got the grouping around Jeremy Corbyn that may be about to coalesce into a sort of direct left wing challenger to the Labour Party. Then of course you've got the nationalist parties. There's the SNP and Plaid Cymru, and then you've got Northern Ireland parties as well.
So there's a galaxy of political alignments on the opposition benches, which is making the politics of this Parliament unusually complicated. Not least, of course, because this is all against the background of opinion polls, which show that Reform is now the lead party, even though it only has five [00:02:00] MPs in the chamber.
And that's just gone down to four.
Ruth Fox: Yes. I mean, that Reform is one of those parties that goes up and down as you say.
Mark D'Arcy: Reflecting their immigration policy. They didn't have a one in one out approach.
Use the links below to subscribe to the Hansard Society's Parliament Matters podcast on your preferred app, or search for 'Parliament Matters' on whichever podcasting service you use. If you are unable to find our podcast, please email us here.
We are currently recruiting for a new Treasurer and three new Trustees to join our Board. If you have experience in financial management, fundraising, digital communications and stakeholder partnerships we particularly want to hear from you!
On Friday 12 September, the House of Lords will debate the Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. We explore what lies ahead for the Bill in the Upper House with Sir David Beamish, former Clerk of the Parliaments – the Lords’ most senior official. Sharing an insider’s guide to the Chamber’s unique, self-regulating procedures, Sir David explains how the legislative process differs from the Commons, and what that could mean for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’s potentially long and contested passage. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
In this episode we speak with historian Jonathan Healey about one of the most extraordinary days in parliamentary history when King Charles I entered the Commons Chamber with soldiers aiming to arrest five MPs. This dramatic moment, vividly recounted in Healey’s new book The Blood in Winter, marked a crucial turning point toward civil war. We explore the power struggles, propaganda, and the geography that shaped the fate of a nation and the Westminster Parliament. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
Legal expert Joshua Rozenberg joins us this week to unpack the legal and constitutional ramifications of one of the most troubling intersections of government secrecy, national security, and parliamentary accountability in recent memory. Thousands of Afghans who had worked with British forces were placed at risk of Taliban revenge attacks after a catastrophic government data leak in 2022 exposed their details. In response, ministers secured a “super-injunction” – so secret that even its existence could not be reported – effectively silencing public debate and preventing parliamentary scrutiny for almost two years. The breach, only revealed this week, led to a covert resettlement scheme which has already cost taxpayers millions of pounds. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
It’s been a bruising week for the Government, as a Labour backbench revolt forced ministers to gut their own welfare reforms live in the House of Commons. We explore why Sir Keir Starmer appears to have such a poor grip on parliamentary management. Plus, House of Lords reform expert Professor Meg Russell explains why the hereditary peers bill may be a once-in-a-generation chance to tackle deeper issues — like curbing prime ministerial patronage and reducing the bloated size of the upper chamber. And in Dorking, faith and politics collide over assisted dying. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
