Parliament passed a law requiring the Government to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on international aid. So, should Ministers be able to bypass that legal obligation through a ministerial statement? We discuss Labour MP Mike Amesbury’s suspended jail sentence and how a recall petition will be called if he doesn’t voluntarily step down. Plus, we explore the controversy surrounding the Product Safety and Metrology Bill, which Brexiteers warn could stealthily realign Britain with the EU while handing Ministers sweeping legislative powers.
Should MPs have a say on the Government’s decision to cut yet more from the UK’s international aid budget to fund increased defence spending? By law, the UK is committed to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on international aid. Yet this latest reduction does not have to be put to a vote in Parliament.
With aid spending now slashed to just 0.3% of GNI, could an upcoming Estimates Day debate on Foreign Office funding give MPs a chance to raise concerns about the decision? And with the aid budget shrinking, is it time to reconsider the role of the International Development Select Committee?
Meanwhile, Labour MP Mike Amesbury has had his 10-week jail sentence for assault suspended on appeal — but that may not be enough to save his Commons seat. As Ruth explains, an MP sentenced to jail — even with a suspended sentence — faces a recall petition. If 10% of voters in Runcorn and Helsby back his removal, the Government will be forced into a by-election, unless he voluntarily resigns his seat first.
Also in the spotlight: the Product Safety and Metrology Bill. Ministers are keen to reassure MPs about this seemingly technical legislation, but Brexiteers suspect it’s a Trojan Horse for creeping EU alignment. The bill is a framework of skeleton bill which contains sweeping powers, allowing ministers to legislate in the future with minimal parliamentary oversight. Ruth and Mark ponder why governments keep reaching for framework bills and Henry VIII powers and what it means for democracy.
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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.
[00:00:17] 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 D'Arcy. Coming up this week...
[00:00:27] Ruth Fox: A huge cut to overseas aid. How will it reverberate through the House of Commons?
[00:00:32] Mark D'Arcy: As an MP is convicted of assault and sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, will his voters be able to throw him out of Parliament?
[00:00:39] Ruth Fox: And is what sounds like a bland, technical piece of legislation in reality, a Trojan horse for rejoining the European single market?
[00:00:54] Mark D'Arcy: But first, Ruth, that big decision that the Government has just announced this week about cutting the overseas aid budget in order to transfer the money to defence and boost defence spending to meet the requirements of President Trump, and indeed to face the security threat from Russia, is something that is going to cause all kinds of ripples in Parliament.
[00:01:14] First of all, it is a mid-air change in Labour policy. This is a very substantial u-turn. It's not very long since the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy was criticising America's decision to gut its overseas aid budget. It was a manifesto promise of the Labour Party that they would maintain overseas aid spending and that's now been dropped.
[00:01:34] And indeed, they were heavily critical of the Conservatives when they reduced overseas aid, when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister. So it's an enormous reversal in policy, and I suppose you can argue circumstances have changed "bigly" since the Donald entered the White House, and it's clear that this is the line of least political resistance.
[00:01:56] Yeah. But is it still for all that a wise decision. To reduce aid that is propping up a lot of countries in, for example, sub-Saharan Africa, where refugees come from, who then cross the Mediterranean, get into Europe, and then attempt to cross the Channel into Britain. So is it a wise, long-term decision or one that might accelerate the kind of people movement that's at the root of a lot of political discontent in Europe already.
[00:02:21] Ruth Fox: Yeah. And of course that was the criticism that David Lammy was making just a few weeks ago about the decisions that the Americans have made about cuts to the U-S-A-I-D department, USAid. And it was a focus of a question that, um, Diane Abbott asked at Prime Minister's questions this week. I think it also raises, whether it's a wise question from a foreign policy perspective, whether it's a wise question from a humanitarian perspective, people have different views on that, and there are other better podcasts than us that can tackle that question.
[00:02:51] But I think from our perspective, in terms of what are the implications for Parliament, I mean, again, we've talked about this on the podcast before, Governments legislating to put targets, policy targets on the statute book, and then effectively finding circumstances change and they can't meet those targets. And that's what we've got here.
[00:03:08] So it's now, well just under a decade since the Government legislated to put 0.7% of aid spending into the statute book, and now for the second time a government is coming forward and saying, well, we're not going to meet that target. And it raises a question, similar to what we heard in 2020-21, when after Covid, Boris Johnson's government said that they weren't gonna be able to meet the target and were going to have to cut back to 0.5% in aid spending. If Parliament has agreed to this target, it has imposed through legislation a duty on the Government to meet that target, then is it free for the Government to just effectively throw that target out of the window and just declare that they're not going to meet it?
[00:03:51] Mark D'Arcy: Apparently, yes.
[00:03:52] Ruth Fox: Yeah. And back in 2021, that was the, the question that was asked by the late Lord Judge.
[00:03:56] Now, of course, sadly, sadly, died, uh, last year, but he asked the question, it's a sovereignty of Parliament question: can the Government expunge or suspend by ministerial statement, which is effectively what we had this week with the Prime Minister at the despatch box, a legal obligation or a duty that Parliament has imposed on the Government.
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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.
