Parliament Matters: A podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy
About Parliament Matters
Join two of the UK’s leading parliamentary experts, Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox, as they guide you through the often mysterious ways our politicians do business and explore the running controversies about the way Parliament works.
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Assisted dying bill - special series #12: Assisted dying bill: What happened at Report Stage - Day one
Episode 93 (17 May 2025)
Is Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Dying Bill now "over the hump?" The Bill's supporters got it though its first day of Report Stage consideration in the House of Commons unscathed, with comfortable majorities in every vote. So, with debate on the most contentious set of amendments disposed of, will it now coast through its remaining scrutiny days in the Commons?
Spooks, the Ombudsman and the Royal Albert Hall
Episode 92 (14 May 2025)
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) – not a select committee, but a group of senior MPs and Peers appointed by the PM – has a “canary in the coalmine” function, to keep an eye on the security and intelligence services and reassure Westminster that all is well. But last week the canary emitted a loud squawk. The ISC raised concerns about its secretariat being under-funded and too tightly controlled by the Cabinet Office – issues that could hinder its independence and effectiveness. We also talk to journalist David Hencke about the controversy surrounding the appointment of the new Parliamentary Ombudsman and we tackle listeners’ latest questions on a backbench MP’s battle to get a debate on the obscure Royal Albert Hall Bill.
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Mark and Ruth will be answering questions from listeners on all things Parliament during each show.
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The podcast is produced with initial support from JRCT, a Quaker trust which engages in philanthropy and supports work on democratic accountability.
Assisted dying bill - special series #11: A conversation with Kim Leadbeater MP
Episode 91 (9 May 2025)
In this latest episode of our special mini-podcast series, we sit down with Kim Leadbeater MP, sponsor of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, as the legislation reaches a critical juncture. With Report Stage in the House of Commons now set for Friday 16 May, Leadbeater explains why she postponed it from its original April date, emphasising the importance of giving MPs time to digest significant changes made during Committee Stage. For a Bill dealing with such a complex and sensitive issue, she says, getting it right matters more than moving quickly.
Meet Parliament’s human rights watchdog: A conversation with Lord Alton, chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Episode 90 (2 May 2025)
As calls grow louder for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, we talk with Parliament’s in-house human rights watchdog: Lord Alton of Liverpool, Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. A former Liberal MP who now serves as a crossbench peer, Lord Alton was an unexpected choice to lead the Committee – traditionally chaired by a member of the House of Commons, and usually by a party politician. But his tireless advocacy on human rights around the world, especially his campaigning against China’s treatment of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, has earned him widespread respect across the political spectrum and many cross-party allies.
Assisted dying bill - special series #10: Understanding Report Stage
Episode 89 (29 April 2025)
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?
Whipping Yarns: A Chief Whip’s Tale – A conversation with former Chief Whip Simon Hart
Episode 87 (11 April 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #9: Inside the Public Bill Committee: A conversation with Dr Marie Tidball MP
Episode 85 (28 March 2025)
Spring Statement: House of Commons tensions grow over the economy
Episode 84 (28 March 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #8: Inside the Public Bill Committee: A conversation with Danny Kruger MP
Episode 83 (21 March 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #7: Inside the Public Bill Committee: A conversation with Bambos Charalambous MP
Episode 81 (14 March 2025)
Planning and infrastructure: Should Parliament take more control?
Episode 80 (14 March 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #6: Inside the Public Bill Committee - Lessons from New Zealand - A conversation with Prof. Colin Gavaghan
Episode 79 (7 March 2025)
Net Zero and National Security: How can Parliament hold the Government to account?
Episode 78 (7 March 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #5: Inside the Public Bill Committee - A conversation with Kit Malthouse MP
Episode 77 (28 February 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #4: Inside the Public Bill Committee - A conversation with Sarah Olney MP
Episode 74 (14 February 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #3: Understanding the amendment process
Episode 72 (7 February 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #2: How the Bill was drafted - A conversation with Dame Elizabeth Gardiner
Episode 71 (31 January 2025)
Assisted dying bill - special series #1: Money, sittings and witnesses
Episode 68 (24 January 2025)
Should Parliament, rather than Ministers, oversee public inquiries?
Episode 67 (17 January 2025)
The 'Musk Factor': Is the world's richest man driving Parliament's agenda?
Episode 66 (10 January 2025)
Whipping Yarns: A rebel Whip's tale - A conversation with former MP Steve Baker
Episode 65 (6 January 2025)
Whipping Yarns: An SNP Whip's tale - A conversation with former MP Patrick Grady
Episode 64 (3 January 2025)
Whipping Yarns: A Liberal Democrat Whip's tale - A conversation with Alistair Carmichael MP
Episode 63 (30 December 2024)
Parliament's role in a failed state: A conversation with Sam Freedman
Episode 62 (23 December 2024)
Licence to scrutinise: spooks, hereditary peers and assisted dying
Episode 60 (13 December 2024)
Football governance, fair elections, and fantasy reforms: Parliament Matters goes live!
Episode 59 (6 December 2024)
How will Donald Trump's return reverberate in the UK Parliament?
Episode 53 (8 November 2024)
Urgent Questions: Answering your questions about how Parliament works
Episode 52 (6 November 2024)
Budget rules explained, parliamentary etiquette tips, and Layla Moran MP gears up for action as Health and Social Care Committee chair
Episode 50 (25 October 2024)
Select Committee chair elections: who won and can they work together?
Episode 47 (13 September 2024)
Inside the Private Members' Bill Ballot: 20 MPs win the legislative lottery
Episode 46 (6 September 2024)
Inside the hidden world of law-making: A conversation with Nikki da Costa
Episode 45 (16 August 2024)
Supermajority vs. micro-opposition: Parliament after the general election?
Episode 39 (28 June 2024)
Democratic decision-making in health emergencies: Learning the lessons of the Covid pandemic
Episode 37 (31 May 2024)
Is AI set to destroy trust in elections? Tackling misinformation in politics & Parliament, with top fact checker Full Fact's Chris Morris
Episode 32 (30 April 2024)
Rwanda Bill becomes law: but what was really going on behind the scenes in Parliament?
Episode 31 (26 April 2024)
Tobacco and Vapes Bill: free vote blows smoke in Rishi Sunak's eyes
Episode 30 (19 April 2024)
William Wragg's honeytrap crisis, and is Speaker Hoyle under threat?
Episode 29 (12 April 2024)
Defending free speech from SLAPPs: MP Wayne David on his Private Member's Bill
Episode 28 (28 March 2024)
The Budget: is the democratic deficit as bad as the financial deficit? How Parliament handles money
Episode 25 (7 March 2024)
The Foreign Affairs Committee: commentator or influencer? A conversation with Alicia Kearns MP
Episode 24 (4 March 2024)
![The Rt Hon Liz Truss MP giving a speech, 7 October 2020. © Number 10 [Flickr] / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED](https://images.ctfassets.net/n4ncz0i02v4l/5ELuvfB30ceMqN69KFu0yi/43c2e78b71235950ffaf59e6c49e2f46/-PMP.E23-_Banner_Image__1920x1080_.png?fm=avif&fit=fill&q=60&w=1920&h=1080&f=center)
The Commons Speaker survives (for now), Liz Truss takes on the ‘Deep State’, plus how do we detoxify politics?
Episode 23 (1 March 2024)
![The Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP is interviewed by Andrew Neil on new TV news channel GB News, 16 June 2021. © HM Treasury [Flickr] / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED](https://images.ctfassets.net/n4ncz0i02v4l/2tyF0kqda1Z6FDOynk98wJ/b7025844cd4c9688253dd47f7a8d458b/-PMP.E22-_Banner_image__1920x1080_.png?fm=avif&fit=fill&q=60&w=1920&h=1080&f=center)
The decline and fall of the political interview: A discussion with Rob Burley
Episode 22 (27 February 2024)
Commons chaos: Can the Speaker survive a monumental misjudgement?
Episode 21 (22 February 2024)
![The Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, at Prime Minister's Questions, 25 October 2023. ©UK Parliament/Maria Unger [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED]](https://images.ctfassets.net/n4ncz0i02v4l/2Xo0Fx0vmNmal6cvsC6BNn/06a1aad81fd21d3c52b786cb21514979/-PMP.E20-_Banner_image_v2__1920x1080_.jpg?fm=avif&fit=fill&q=60&w=1934&h=1032&f=center)
Urgent Questions: We answer your questions about how Parliament works
Episode 20 (15 February 2024)
What if they gave a coup and nobody came? The Tory leadership soap opera continued
Episode 17 (26 January 2024)
War powers, Rwanda ‘mayhem’ and Ian Dunt on the state of Westminster
Episode 16 (19 January 2024)
The inside story: Parliament and the Post Office Horizon scandal
Episode 15 (12 January 2024)
Election alert and the year ahead in Parliament: Why are so many election rules being changed?
Episode 14 (5 January 2024)
Michael Crick & Tomorrow’s MPs: The latest news on parliamentary candidate selections
Episode 12 (29 December 2024)
Is Parliament a decaying organism? Lord Lisvane on our crumbling constitution
Episode 10 (22 December 2023)
‘These guys like to be written about’: The art of parliamentary sketchwriting, with Rob Hutton
Episode 9 (18 December 2023)
High drama or damp squib?… And what’s happening with pairing?
Episode 8 (15 December 2024)
Westenders: The battle for the heart and soul of the Conservative Party
Episode 7 (8 December 2023)
Total reshuffle, emergency legislation and Parliament’s ‘Golden Ticket’
Episode 4 (17 November 2023)
All change on the Committee corridor and regulating the conduct and standards of MPs
Episode 2 (12 November 2023)
Introducing: Parliament Matters – A new podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy
Trailer (3 November 2023)
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