News

Parliament's role in a failed state: A conversation with Sam Freedman - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 62

23 Dec 2024
© Comment is Freed
© Comment is Freed

In this special episode of Parliament Matters, we sit down with author and researcher Sam Freedman to explore the themes of his book, Failed State. Freedman delivers a sharp critique of Britain’s governance, examining how bad laws and weak parliamentary scrutiny are contributing to systemic dysfunction.

This engaging conversation covers Parliament's structural flaws, the realities of modern political life, and bold reform ideas—exploring how fixing the core of our democracy could lead to better outcomes for everyone.

Themes discussed in this episode include:

Parliamentary scrutiny in crisis: Freedman highlights the erosion of Parliament's role in scrutinising legislation, forcing the unelected House of Lords and even the courts to fill the gap, creating further constitutional tensions.

From part-time MPs to professional politicians: How Parliament's evolution has failed to keep pace with its members’ changing roles, leaving many MPs frustrated and directionless.

Poor legislation’s ripple effects: Freedman discusses how the lack of oversight has led to flawed laws and policies, citing examples from his time in government, such as the rushed Academies Act.

Decentralisation as a solution: Freedman makes the case for empowering regional and local authorities to address over-centralisation and strengthen governance.

Sam Freedman

Sam Freedman

Sam is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and a senior adviser to the education charity Ark. From 2010 to 2013, he served as a Senior Policy Adviser to Education Secretary Michael Gove, after which he worked with the teacher training charity Teach First. Between 2018 and 2021, he was CEO of the Education Partnerships Group, an international charity that supports governments in sub-Saharan Africa with education policy. Now a widely respected political commentator, Sam runs the popular Substack newsletter 'Comment is Freed' which is often cited as the most-read politics publication on the platform. His recent book, Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It, has become a bestseller. You can follow his insights on Twitter @samfr and at BlueSky @samfr.bsky.social.

Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There are consequently 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.

[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

[00:00:17] 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, and coming up in this special edition of the pod, we talk to author and researcher Sam Freedman about his book, Failed State, which attempts to diagnose what's going wrong with government in Britain.

[00:00:36] Ruth Fox: He told us a big part of the problem was bad laws pushed through a Parliament that was unable to scrutinise them properly.

[00:00:43] Sam Freedman: I see the lack of scrutiny given to legislation as being an increasingly important part of our state's function. It's really the focus of the second part of my book, and though I blame Parliament itself less than I blame the executive for using its historic sort of power, an unusual level of power, versus other countries to sort of ignore and avoid scrutiny as much as possible.

[00:01:09] As I say in the book, this is not a new phenomenon. We've always had a very strong executive. But in the last 20, 30 or so years, you've seen executives fight against even the sort of smallish amount of scrutiny that Parliament was giving before with a variety of tricks and changes, which has left the Commons, I argue, extremely ineffective in performing a scrutiny role, which in turn has then led the Lords to have to do a lot more.

[00:01:38] Which puts a huge amount of pressure on a, on an unelected chamber, and then ultimately, I argue it's led the courts to have to do a lot more. The courts have ended up stepping in to try and deal with the lack of scrutiny provided by the Commons, and then that has also created its own sort of constitutional crisis because you have people arguing that the courts aren't elected, and why are they getting involved in politics?

[00:02:00] So, I have um, uh, several chapters where I explore how the sort of fundamental dysfunction of the Commons is, is having quite a widespread ripple effect, now across the whole of the way our politics works.

[00:02:11] Mark D'Arcy: One of the big structural flaws you identify is this idea that Parliament had become a part-time house. You know, barristers would roll in at tea time after a day at the courts. And so the structures of Parliament had evolved to cope with part-time MPs. And nowadays MPs are more or less a fully professional group who spend all their time there, but the institution hasn't caught up with that.

[00:02:35] Sam Freedman: Yes, and I think that sort of part time Parliament was there from when this modern conception of Parliament arose.

[00:02:42] And so you always had this system in which you had, since we've had tight parties, that they have had backbenchers who were largely supportive of what the government wanted to do, had other jobs, were there, you know, if they were on the Tory side, were there because, you know, you know, they were sort of aristocrats who came in from the countryside or were lawyers who did their job in the morning. If they were on the Labour side, it's because they'd been in the trade union movement.

Subscribe to Parliament Matters

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.

News / Assisted dying bill: Special series #10 - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 89

Having cleared detailed scrutiny in a Public Bill Committee, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill faces its next crucial test when it returns to the House of Commons for Report Stage on 16 May. This stage is often where Private Members' Bills falter. Will opponents of Kim Leadbeater’s proposals to legalise assisted dying win enough support to amend the Bill? Can supporters of the Bill fend off attempts to change it? And could the Bill be lost altogether, because of the procedural hurdles that still stand in its way?

29 Apr 2025
Read more

News / Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 28 April - 2 May 2025

MPs will debate the Football Governance Bill for the first time and consider controversial proposals to give government access to benefit recipients’ bank data in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill. The Great British Energy Bill faces a further hurdle over modern slavery concerns in solar panel supply chains. Orders on extended VE Day pub hours and banning ‘ninja swords’ will be considered. David Lammy and Shabana Mahmood face committee scrutiny, while Richard Foord seeks to require parliamentary approval for a UK–US trade deal. Mayors Andy Burnham and Kim McGuinness will give evidence on industrial strategy, and Dr Fiona Hill will speak about social mobility and education.

27 Apr 2025
Read more

News / Should Parliament roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 88

After Parliament’s rare Saturday sitting to pass the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill with minimal scrutiny, we explore concerns about rushed legislation and unchecked ministerial powers. The Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle faces criticism for allegedly protecting Keir Starmer at PMQs. Meanwhile, as MPs and Peers move to block a possible Trump address to Parliament during his second UK State Visit, we discuss who controls invitations to speak and where on the parliamentary estate.

26 Apr 2025
Read more

Submissions / Evidence to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee: Priorities and strategic aims

In response to the Modernisation Committee's call for views on 17 October 2024, we submitted evidence outlining key areas we believe the Committee should prioritise. Our submission recommended a focus on: strengthening legislative scrutiny, with particular emphasis on reforming the delegated legislation system; enhancing financial scrutiny, especially in relation to the Budget and the Estimates; addressing strategic gaps in parliamentary scrutiny; making more effective use of parliamentary time; and reviewing the Standing Orders, language and rituals of the House of Commons.

01 Apr 2025
Read more

Briefings / The Assisted Dying Bill: A guide to the Private Member's Bill process

This briefing explains what to watch for during the Second Reading debate of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on 29 November. It outlines the procedural and legislative issues that will come into play: the role of the Chair in managing the debate and how procedures such as the 'closure' and 'reasoned amendments' work. It looks ahead to the Committee and Report stage procedures that will apply if the Bill progresses beyond Second Reading. It also examines the government's responsibilities, such as providing a money resolution for the Bill and preparing an Impact Assessment, while addressing broader concerns about the adequacy of Private Members’ Bill procedures for scrutinising controversial issues.

27 Nov 2024
Read more