From the emotional weight of the Assisted Dying Bill’s historic Second Reading to the first Cabinet resignation under Keir Starmer’s leadership, this has been a whirlwind week of high-stakes drama and political intrigue in Westminster. Nearly three million people have signed a parliamentary e-petition calling for another general election and it’s been a week of party defections and divisions. We unpack what it all means for the future of this Parliament.
This week saw MPs engage in a solemn and respectful debate over landmark legislation. The Assisted Dying Bill cleared its Second Reading with a decisive majority of 55 votes, but the solemn silence that greeted the announcement of the result in the House of Commons reflected the gravity of the decision. There is still a long way to go if the Assisted Dying Bill is to make it to the statute book, but it cleared this first hurdle. So, what happens now as it moves into the Public Bill Committee?
Meanwhile, a petition calling for a general election has amassed nearly three million signatures. It has sparked a debate and perhaps tells us something about public discontent with the current Government after just six months. But it has also revealed the constitutional illiteracy of some of our politicians and the commentariat. Despite its size, this petition holds no legal weight, though it will trigger a House of Commons debate in January having crossed the 100,000 signature threshold. What approach will the Government take?
In other news, Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet saw its first resignation this week as Transport Secretary Louise Haigh stepped down. The move came after a past offence - declared to Starmer before her appointment - resurfaced. We unpack the implications for the Government’s ethics bar: has it been set too low, or is this the high standard needed to rebuild public trust in politicians and Parliament?
Hansard Society
Event recording: The Assisted Dying Bill: How will Parliament decide? Exploring the parliamentary process (Tuesday 26 November)
Anna Bocking-Welch, Richard Huzzey, Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Henry Miller (2024), What’s the point of petitions? What the last century reveals about petitioning and people power in modern Britain
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[00:00:00] Intro: You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm.
[00:00:18] Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.
[00:00:24] Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark Darcy, coming up this week.
[00:00:27] Ruth Fox: The bill to legalise assisted dying clears its first hurdle in the commons, so what happens now?
[00:00:33] Mark D'Arcy: Could, should, a petition with millions of signatures force a government to resign and call an election?
[00:00:39] Ruth Fox: Spoiler, no. Plus, Sir Kier Starmer's first cabinet resignation, Tory defections and Liberal splits in an eventful Westminster week.
[00:00:56] Mark D'Arcy: But first Ruth, we've delayed the pod a day, precisely so that we can take in the result of MP's first chance to vote on the Terminally Ill Adult (End of Life) Bill, the assisted dying bill as it's generally referred to. You can, incidentally, still hear the buzzing of the helicopter, which, for reasons that pass all understanding, the BBC and Sky have orbiting Parliament at the moment to get aerial shots of the building during this important debate.
[00:01:21] Heaven only knows why they bother to do that, but they do. So apologies in advance for the buzzing you can hear in the background. But that's the least of today's events. It's been an extremely interesting debate. Conducted in a very, very serious manner. It was quite noticeable, for example, that when Mr Speaker read out the totals voting for and against the Bill, there wasn't a great erupting cheer to celebrate the victory that the Bill had cleared its second reading.
[00:01:46] It was far too serious an occasion for that. And now the Bill goes off for further consideration in a Public Bill Committee, and starts its journey through the elaborate machinery of Parliament.
[00:01:57] Ruth Fox: Yeah, I was struck as you were by that moment when they announced the result. It was not quite as close as I thought it might be.
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The UK Spending Review outlines how Government funds will be allocated over several years. Unlike the Budget, which raises revenue, the Review decides how it is spent. But how is it approved? What role does Parliament play if it doesn’t vote on the Review itself? This blog explores how the Spending Review works, how it differs from the Budget, and how Parliament holds the Government to account through the Estimates process.
On Friday 13 June, the House of Commons will once again debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. Specifically, it will hold a second day of Report Stage, during which the whole House will debate and vote on amendments. This briefing explains the structure of Report Stage, what happened on the first day of Report Stage, how amendments are selected and grouped, on which amendments a decision can still be taken, and the likely sequence of events this Friday, including whether a final vote will take place.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, will deliver a statement on the Spending Review. MPs will resume Report Stage of the assisted dying bill and debate key legislation on football governance, mental health, and planning and infrastructure. Peers and MPs are expected to resolve their standoff over AI and copyright in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The Commons Defence Committee will hear from the lead reviewers of the Strategic Defence Review, while a Lords Committee will examine the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty issue. The Hansard Society’s Director will give evidence to the Modernisation Committee about access to the House of Commons and its procedures.
In this episode, we explore why ministers keep bypassing Parliament to make major announcements to the media — and whether returning to the Despatch Box might help clarify their message. We unpack the Lords' uphill battle to protect creators’ rights in the Data Use and Access Bill, challenge claims that the Assisted Dying Bill lacks scrutiny, and examine early findings from a Speaker’s Conference on improving security for MPs, as threats and intimidation against politicians continue to rise. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
Our evidence on treaty scrutiny has been published by the House of Lords International Agreements Committee. Our submission outlines the problems with the existing framework for treaty scrutiny and why legislative and cultural change are needed to improve Parliament's scrutiny role. Our evidence joins calls for a parliamentary consent vote for the most significant agreements, a stronger role for Parliament in shaping negotiating mandates and monitoring progress, and a sifting committee tasked with determining which agreements warrant the greatest scrutiny.
