The area around the Palace of Westminster, especially Parliament Square, is the constitutional heart of the UK. It should be one of the world’s great civic spaces - but currently it can be confusing and unwelcoming. This 2011 report set out radical ideas for a more coherent vision for the area, to provide an enriched experience for all those drawn to it.
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Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard
The national effort to tackle the Coronavirus health emergency has resulted in UK ministers being granted some of the broadest legislative powers ever seen in peacetime. This Dashboard highlights key facts and figures about the Statutory Instruments (SIs) being produced using these powers in the Coronavirus Act 2020 and other Acts of Parliament.
How are parliaments responding to the Coronavirus pandemic?
When countries are facing a national health emergency, the work of parliaments is as important as ever: to scrutinise government decisions, to authorise expenditure, to pass legislation. But how are legislatures around the world responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, and what are the key issues involved in moving to a ‘virtual’ operation?
Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 2, 2020)
Articles on themes including the mental wellbeing of politicians, the efficacy of the petitions system in the UK Parliament and devolved legislatures, the rate of equivocacy in former Prime Minister Theresa May’s answers during PMQs, the emergence of international inter-parliamentary institutions, and more.
Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal – a new era, or more of the same?
On 8 April, responsibility for the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal (R&R) Programme transfers from the parliamentary authorities to independent governance bodies. This should usher in a new era for the project, but it has been accompanied by persistent rumours that the refurbishment will be downgraded to a short-term programme of minor repairs.
Brexit delegated legislation: the challenges, and how they should be addressed
With respect to the importance of delegated legislation, the next stage of the Brexit process is unlikely to be much different from the last. Without urgent, substantial reform of delegated legislation scrutiny in the House of Commons, much of the detailed implementation of Brexit will be done by the executive with limited parliamentary oversight.
A New Normal? Parliament after Brexit
The 2017-19 Parliament was, famously, ‘not normal’. Following the 2019 general election, some around Westminster welcome, and want to encourage, a return to normality. But what’s ‘normal’? And will the demands of Brexit, plus a constitutional and procedural reaction against the 2017-19 experience, mean the new parliamentary normal is different from the old?