Category Archives: Parliament

Anything connected with business in the Houses of Commons or Lords (eg, PMQs).

Ed Miliband’s wonky PMQs’ maths

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st December 2011 - 11:35 am

Paul Walter’s LibDemVoice review of yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions mentioned the Ed Miliband soundbite which has been picked up by much of the media… but so far without the disbelief it’s due. Here’s what the Labour leader said:

The difference is that, unlike the Prime Minister, I am not going to demonise the dinner lady, the cleaner or the nurse, people who earn in a week what the Chancellor pays for his annual skiing holiday.

A quick reminder for those who don’t live in the Westminster bubble that, last January, it was revealed (by which I mean I read it …

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged ed miliband, george osborne and paul walter | 33 Comments

PMQs: Jo Swinson on the role of women in Aghanistan

By Paul Walter | Thu 1st December 2011 - 10:23 am

Liberal Democrat questions first this week:

Jo Swinson asked:

Ten years on from the military intervention, more than 3 million girls in Afghanistan are now in school. With the Bonn conference on Monday, will the Prime Minister send a clear message that the rights of those girls should not be traded away in a false choice between women’s rights and security? The evidence shows that women’s involvement in post-conflict resolution is essential for stability.

The Prime Minister agreed:

All those of us who have been to Afghanistan and met women MPs and other leaders in that country who want to stand up for women’s

…

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged bob russell, david cameron, ed miliband, Jo Swinson, pensions bill, roger williams and tax credits | 1 Comment

Jo Swinson MP questions BBC on all male Sports Personality shortlist

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

The very first thing that Alex Jones said on Monday evening when the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year was announced live on the One Show was “they’re all men”. She sounded quite shocked – and rightly so.

She was not alone. World champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington took to Twitter to say that there were many women in sport who deserve recognition this year.

Attention was also given to how those shortlists were made up – voted for predominantly by male sports editors of national newspapers and, inexplicably, representatives of lads’ Mags Nuts and Zoo.

Four MPs, …

Also posted in News | Tagged bbc, Jo Swinson and sport | 15 Comments

PMQs: Ding-dong over youth unemployment

By Paul Walter | Fri 25th November 2011 - 9:10 am

The focus of the Cameron v Miliband this week exchange was the new figure of one million unemployed young people. It started with a battle between the government’s Work Programme versus Labour’s Future Jobs Fund. Miliband blamed the Work Programme for increasing Youth Unemployment:

…in June, when the Work programme was introduced, 85,000 young people had been unemployed for more than six months; now, there are 133,000—a massive increase since he introduced the Work programme.

But Cameron countered with figures saying that:

The Work programme is helping 50% more people than the future jobs fund: it will help 120,000 young people this year,

…

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged david cameron, ed miliband and youth unemployment | 2 Comments

How well do you know the British Prime Ministers?

By Mark Pack | Sun 20th November 2011 - 4:10 pm

A quick history quiz for the weekend: only five recent Prime Ministers have not subsequently taken a seat in the House of Lords. Who are the five?

Three you should find quite easy, a fourth not too hard if you are an older reader, but the fifth may surprise – or make you think “oh, of course!”…

(Answer after the jump)

Tagged greg knight and history | 15 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – “It is time we knew whether the Labour party can think for itself.”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem Voice contributor Paul Walter noted here Nick Clegg’s strong response in this week’s Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions to the Labour party’s aim of protecting its cosy financial relationship with the trade unions — but for those who missed it here’s that exchange in full:

Also posted in YouTube | Tagged nick clegg, paul walter, sadiq khan and trade unions | 10 Comments

The Independent View: And then there was one… (Unmasked! The only backbench Lib Dem MP 100% loyal to the Coalition)

By Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart | Fri 18th November 2011 - 9:45 am

When a quarter of the parliamentary Conservative party rebels, everyone sits up and takes notice. On 24 October, 2011, 81 Conservative MPs defied a three-line whip to vote in favour of an EU referendum: cue a blaze of negative publicity for David Cameron and the Tory party whips.

But a week or so later one-quarter of Lib Dem MPs rebelled, and (almost) no one noticed. In nine separate votes on 1 and 2 November, a total of 14 Lib Dem MPs voted against various aspects of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. The largest …

Also posted in News and The Independent View | Tagged david laws, featured, legal aid, lorely burt, simon hughes, tom brake, tuition fees and whip | 13 Comments

DPMQs: Clegg shows his passion on a range of issues

By Paul Walter | Thu 17th November 2011 - 10:10 am

As usual, questions to the Deputy Prime Minister this week covered a large variety of subjects. Nick Clegg was on passionate form on several issues.

Harriet Harman asked if he would “admit that he urgently needs to take further action to help the young unemployed?”. Refreshingly, Nick Clegg did admit this, adding:

…it would be a real dereliction of duty if we did not do more to try to make sure that young people are given a real pathway into training, further and higher education or the labour market. As the right hon. and learned Lady will know, youth unemployment has increased

…

Tagged child detention, electoral registration, nick cle and youth unemployment | 26 Comments

Opinion: Nick Clegg lays into Labour links to unions

By Paul Walter | Wed 16th November 2011 - 6:24 pm

Here’s a superb clip of Nick Clegg in full, passionate flight as he attacks Sadiq Khan regarding links with the GMB union. There is some background to this story on order-order.com here.

Here’s the exchange in full from Hansard:

Sadiq Khan (Tooting) (Lab): The Deputy Prime Minister has previously endorsed the long-held convention that issues of party funding should—as he has just said—be resolved by cross-party agreement when that is possible. He has told us that the Committee on Standards in Public Life will report shortly: in fact, it will report next week. Is he concerned about the objections from

…

Tagged nick clegg, party funding and sadiq khan | 20 Comments

Liberal Democrat setting for Prime Ministerial grilling

By Paul Walter | Thu 10th November 2011 - 9:53 am

Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQs) is often criticised as a bad advert for Parliament. It is confrontational and glib. – That particularly applies to the portion which is shown mostly on news programmes.

Anyone who is concerned about this should watch, or read the record of, the House of Commons Liaison Committee. Each quarter, it questions the Prime Minister for an hour and a half. The sessions are thoughtful, thorough and comprehensive. It is all very polite and earnest.

One could criticise the sessions for going to the other extreme of the style of PMQs. A good replacement for Horlicks, in other …

Tagged big society, dame anne begg, david cameron and Sir Alan Beith | 1 Comment

PMQs: Miliband misses a golden opportunity

By Paul Walter | Wed 9th November 2011 - 1:06 pm

LibDem Julian Huppert started Prime Minister’s Questions with a zinger today. He said that jobs and growth depend on consumer confidence, and asked if, therefore, the PM thinks that telling 25 million people that they have no job security and could be fired tomorrow will help consumer confidence (this refers to the proposal from Tory businessman Adrian Beecroft). David Cameron had no answer but instead, as always, threw his briefing notes at the questioner (metaphorically speaking).

I should also mention, en passant, that Julian asked for suggestions for his first question via Twitter. Good man.

After the MiliCam exchange, I was …

Also posted in News and PMQs | Tagged annette brooke, david cameron, ed miliband, julian huppert, tessa munt and uk border agency | 7 Comments

That’s the way to do it! How Liberal Democrats made the running on the Localism Bill

By The Voice | Wed 9th November 2011 - 10:15 am

Annette Brooke MP and Lord (Graham) Tope are the Lib Dem Co-Chairs of the Parliamentary Policy Committee on Communities and Local Government, and led the Lib Dem response to the Localism Bill. Here they outline what they, working with colleagues in the party and many beyond, helped achieve.

Last night the Localism Bill completed its final stage in Parliament and is set to become law when it achieves Royal Assent next week.

As Co-Chairs of the Parliamentary Policy Committee on Communities and Local Government, it has been our job over the last ten months to lead on the Bill for the party. We’ve helped shepherd it through both Houses of Parliament, and have led a Lib Dem team that in many ways has made the running on the Bill.

We’ve had strong engagement with Coalition ministers, who engaged with us constructively, particularly Greg Clark, Baroness Hanham and our very own Andrew Stunell, who was very helpful and willing to work together with us to improve the Bill considerably.

Colleagues in local government were also a constant source of help and good ideas, which never ceased to better inform our Bill team as the process went on.

Where we started from: “a good bill in theory, with several flaws in practice”

When it was first introduced, I think many Liberal Democrats would agree that it was a good bill in theory, with several flaws in practice.

Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew stunell, annette brooke, baroness hanham, graham tope, greg clark, housing, housing ombudsman, localism, localism bill, mayoral referendum, national planning policy framework, neighbourhood forum, neighbourhood plan, nolan principles, planning, standards board, sustainability and tenants | 13 Comments

Pugh: we must we must be able to guarantee safety before we start fracking

By The Voice | Tue 8th November 2011 - 8:43 am

The Press Association reports:

If Britain is to benefit from a controversial drilling technique to extract gas from the ground “we must be able to guarantee safety at every stage”, a Liberal Democrat MP has said. Dr John Pugh (Southport) said without appropriate and effective monitoring of the process, public support would not be achieved.

Fracking, which involves hydraulic fracturing of shale rock using high pressure liquid, led to the tremors which hit Lancashire earlier this year. Environmental campaigners and local residents have called for an immediate halt to the exploration work, which could lead to vast untapped gas reserves. Energy firm

…

Tagged energy, fracking and john pugh | 3 Comments

PMQs: Tim Farron asks “Question of the week” – Ed Balls signals four runs

By Paul Walter | Fri 4th November 2011 - 7:53 pm

In my ever-earnest toil to prepare this review, this week I have been reviewing web sites which explain cricket umpire signals. I also checked the umpire signals for netball, American football and baseball.

There is no doubt about it. Ed Balls was signalling a four at Prime Ministers’ Questions. His hand was a bit lower than normal, but it would pass to signal a boundary at Morley Cricket Club.

For a change, I’m going to stand this review on its head this week and concentrate on questions from backbenchers, starting with Liberal Democrats.

Question of the week came from Tim Farron:

The world population

…

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged alistair darling, caroline lucas, ed balls, mike crockart, simon hughes and tim farron | 3 Comments

PMQs: Nadine Dorries asks question. No-one dies.

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th October 2011 - 6:54 pm

Today was the fiftieth anniversary of Prime Minister’s Questions. And it was a fairly typical session. As always, it was in two parts.

Part one: Lots of jeering, cheering, knockabout, winding-up and prepared lines exchanged between the PM and opposition leader.

Part Two: Generally hum-drum but important questions from various back-benchers, largely heard in earnest silence.

The bit that most people will see will be the short bit on the telly, which will be a few seconds of ya-boo politics. In itself, that is a good piece of democracy in that it highlights the weaknesses of the government and the opposition. The longer …

Also posted in Europe / International and PMQs | Tagged david cameron, duncan hames, economy, ed miliband, european union, stephen lloyd and tom brake | 5 Comments

PMQs: You can’t gesticulate your way out of a Balls-up

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2011 - 6:53 pm

He still looks like a clever sixth former to me, but it is fair to say that Ed Miliband has cracked Prime Minister’s Questions. His performance this week was excellent.

“Just a bit late” was David Cameron’s description of Miliband’s raising of the Fox affair. It is easy to understand why Miliband did not raise the subject last week. Labour played a canny game with Dr Fox. They did not call for his resignation and at the last PMQs, Miliband did not ask directly about the issue. This allowed Dr Fox to swing in the media wind, without obvious Labour encouragement. …

Also posted in News and PMQs | Tagged adrian sanders, david cameron, ed balls, ed miliband, inflation, john pugh, liam fox and martin horwood | 2 Comments

DPMQs: Something has happened here

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th October 2011 - 9:53 am

Whisper it. A quiet revolution has happened. Keep this quiet, please!

Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions used to be akin to Bear Baiting (with apologies to bears and ursine mammal lovers everywhere). Nick Clegg would stand up and have all sorts of sticks prodded into his midriff by Labour members, while their sistren and breathren used to shout and jeer. The poor ~~bear~~ Clegg used to get all red in the face and start shouting back at them, before escaping to nurse his wounds.

Something has changed.

This week, apart from the odd bit of rowdiness during a question on the consultation concerning …

Also posted in News | Tagged Dr Liam Fox, electoral registration and nick clegg | 10 Comments

PMQs: Ed Miliband just about hits the barn door

By Paul Walter | Wed 12th October 2011 - 1:53 pm

From memory, this was the first time the Cameron/Miliband exchange centred wholly on the economy.

There was plenty of ammo for Miliband to fire at Cameron. Unemployment up to its highest for 15 years. Women’s unemployment at its highest since 1988. Youth unemployment at its highest since 1992. He started with a quote from David Cameron himself saying that “Unemployment will fall this year, next year and the year after”. (Bit of daft hostage to fortune that was.)

Cameron was well armed with all the programmes the government is starting: Welfare to Work programme, Welfare reform, Apprenticeships etc etc. And we have …

Also posted in News and PMQs | Tagged david cameron, economy, ed miliband and Sir Alan Beith | 14 Comments

The top five London MPs for outside earnings

By Mark Pack | Fri 30th September 2011 - 8:55 am

Via a survey carried out for LondonlovesBusiness.com comes this list of the top five London MPs for annual outside earnings on top of their MP salary of £65,738:

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP for Kensington (Con) – upwards of £240,000
Nick Raynsford, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich (Lab) – £60,657
Mark Field, MP for Cities of London and Westminster (Con) – £41,740
Jo Johnson, MP for Orpington (Con) – £12,314
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Lab) – £10,326

What do you think of these figures: good to see MPs having a range of activities or bad to see MPs spending time earning these sorts of sums?

Also posted in London | Tagged diane abbott, jo johnson, malcolm rifkind, mark field and nick raynsford | 10 Comments

PMQs: The nodding donkey and the nasal twang have left the building

By Paul Walter | Thu 15th September 2011 - 11:24 am

It is interesting how voice quality can make all the difference at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Ed Miliband seems to have swallowed several family packs of Tunes lozenges. His voice sounded unusually clear yesterday, without its normal nasal twang. Combined with a disciplined debating approach, this led to a commanding performance (up to a point – of which more later).

David Cameron, in contrast, was sounding slightly hoarse. Perhaps he over-indulged in Russian hospitality in some shape or form. The problem with being hoarse at PMQs is that you end up shouting to compensate. That makes it worse and, red-faced, you give …

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged david cameron, ed miliband, Gordon Birtwhistle, malcolm bruce and nick clegg | 5 Comments

PMQs: Nadine Dorries leaves the PM speechless

By Paul Walter | Wed 7th September 2011 - 1:23 pm

Also posted in News and PMQs | Tagged david cameron, elected police commissioners, mark reckless, nadine dorries, NHS, nick clegg, policing, simon wright and Sir Alan Beith | 8 Comments

Meral Hussein Ece writes: my contribution in the Lords to the riots debate

By Meral Ece | Mon 15th August 2011 - 5:08 pm

This is the speech Meral made last Thursday as part of the Lords debate on the public disorder.

Baroness Hussein-Ece: My Lords, I, too, would like to associate myself and these Benches with the sentiments that have been expressed and to extend our condolences to those people who have lost so much in the terrible events from Saturday onwards. I thank my noble friend the Leader of the House for repeating the Prime Minster’s Statement today.

There is absolutely no excuse for the terrible scenes that we have witnessed on the streets of London and beyond in our cities over the …

Tagged #ukriots, london and riots | 3 Comments

Today’s by-election: Excepted hereditary peers

By Helen Duffett | Tue 19th July 2011 - 8:15 pm

A by-election took place today in the House of Lords, to fill the vacancy among the excepted hereditary peers, created by the death of Lord Ampthill on 23 April. The ballot (under AV) was held between 10am and 8pm today in the Queen’s Robing Room, and the count will be conducted tomorrow by Electoral Reform Services.

Lord Ampthill was one of the 15 hereditary peers elected by the whole House, as part of a compromise in the House of Lords Act 1999, which retained 92 hereditaries in the House of Lords. His successor is also elected by “all …

Tagged geoffrey russell, george carlisle, house of lords and thoby kennet | 5 Comments

Peer told to “cease and desist” claiming he’s a member of the House of Lords

By Helen Duffett | Mon 18th July 2011 - 12:43 pm

Lord Monckton, climate change sceptic and UKIP’s head of research, has been told to stop claiming to be a member of the House of Lords, in a letter sent to him personally and also published on the House of Lords website.

In his letter, David Beamish, Clerk of the Parliaments, makes the distinction:

No-one denies that you are, by virtue of your letters Patent, a Peer. That is an entirely separate issue to membership of the House… I am publishing this letter on the parliamentary website so that anybody who wishes to check whether you are a Member of the House of Lords can view this official confirmation that you are not.

Also posted in Election law | Tagged christopher monckton, david beamish, hereditary peer and house of lords | 3 Comments

End of term report for Lib Dem MPs’ Class of 2010

By Helen Duffett | Sat 16th July 2011 - 10:51 am

As the House of Commons rises this Tuesday, the BBC’s Gavin Stamp gives new MPs of all parties his end-of-term report.

Here’s what he has to say about the new Lib Dem intake:

New entrants were small in number but still accounted for almost one in six of the Parliamentary party.

No new MPs made it into the ranks of ministers or were asked to head up a series of backbench committees designed to help the party retain an independent voice on issues outside the coalition.

However, Gordon Birtwhistle and Duncan Hames became parliamentary private secretaries, the latter also finding time to

…

Tagged duncan hames, gordon birtwistle, higher education, ian swales, julian huppert, simon wright, stephen gilbert, stephen lloyd, tessa munt, tuition fees and universities | 2 Comments

Is John Healey as dumb as a bag of spanners?

By Alex Foster | Fri 15th July 2011 - 2:51 pm

In the grand scheme of things, not a lot of people know the rules MPs are subject to when it comes to using parliamentary stationery.

If you were an MP with a boatload of postage-paid envelopes, you could probably abuse them with impunity, and send them out unsolicited to 95% of your constituents without getting any redress.

But there is one group of people who are much more likely to know the rules: people who work in politics. A subset of those are councillors. And if you are really keen on getting shopped to the House authorities, who best to …

Tagged john healey | 7 Comments

House of Lords Reform: the Joint Select Committee calls for evidence

By Mark Valladares | Fri 15th July 2011 - 1:41 pm

Whilst the News of the World scandal has drawn virtually all of the attention, the clock has started ticking on the work of the Joint Select Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill. Comprising twenty six members appointed from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, it is charged with considering the draft Bill and reporting by 29 February 2012.

At its first meeting, which took place on Monday, such decisions as how often it would meet were discussed, but the key decision was to proceed with a Call for Evidence. This represents your …

Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords and lords reform | Leave a comment

PMQs: The tectonic plates shift

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th July 2011 - 1:06 pm

Oh, what a joy to be Leader of the Opposition at times like these!

Prime Minister’s Questions today was certainly one of the most important this year. David Cameron has been in a sort of partial purdah for the last few days, no doubt preparing his answers. What we got was quite a substantial exposition of the response to what I’ll call, for the purposes of brevity, “Murdochgate”.

The exchange between Cameron and Miliband started with a large degree of agreement. Indeed, it was almost as if the PM had pulled the rug from under the Leader of the opposition by …

Also posted in PMQs | Tagged david cameron, ed miliband, news international, news of the world, nick clegg, paddy ashdown, Phone hacking and tim loughton | 12 Comments

Adrian Sanders MP compares the PCC to a “fishnet condom”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 7th July 2011 - 9:26 am

Enduring image of the day, and, I’ll warrant, its first entry in Hansard*, goes to Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders for his contribution to yesterday’s emergency debate on phone hacking at the News of the World:

…when one considers the Press Complaints Commission, the phrase “chocolate teapot”, or indeed the phrase “fishnet condom”, comes to mind.

Our 2007 inquiry had elicited a response from News International that it had carried out a full inquiry itself and was satisfied that the Mulcaire-Goodman case was isolated. That was patently untrue. Our second inquiry encountered more obstacles: Goodman and Mulcaire refused to present

…

Also posted in News | Tagged adrian sanders, chocolate teapot, hansard and press complaints commission | 3 Comments

DPMQs: “Grotesque” and “beneath contempt” – Clegg on the Milly Dowler phone hacking allegations

By Paul Walter | Tue 5th July 2011 - 8:45 pm

The highest profile issue at Deputy Prime Minister’s questions today was the issue of press phone hacking in the light of the allegations concerning Milly Dowler and the News of the World.

Harriet Harman asked Nick Clegg to back Ed Miliband’s call for a general public inquiry into illegality in the newspaper industry. As someone has said, this is a bit like holding an inquiry into why we get bad weather. In a sign of divisions within Labour, Chris Bryant, in contrast, has called for a more narrow inquiry.

Nick Clegg stopped short of backing an inquiry but, instead, emphasised the importance …

Tagged Angela Smith, chris bryant, constitutional reform, david amess, DPMQs, ed miliband, electoral registration, harriet harman, house of lords, lords reform, mark harper, nick clegg and Phone hacking | 29 Comments

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Category Archives: Parliament

Ed Miliband’s wonky PMQs’ maths

PMQs: Jo Swinson on the role of women in Aghanistan

Jo Swinson MP questions BBC on all male Sports Personality shortlist

PMQs: Ding-dong over youth unemployment

How well do you know the British Prime Ministers?

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – “It is time we knew whether the Labour party can think for itself.”

The Independent View: And then there was one… (Unmasked! The only backbench Lib Dem MP 100% loyal to the Coalition)

DPMQs: Clegg shows his passion on a range of issues

Opinion: Nick Clegg lays into Labour links to unions

Liberal Democrat setting for Prime Ministerial grilling

PMQs: Miliband misses a golden opportunity

That’s the way to do it! How Liberal Democrats made the running on the Localism Bill

Where we started from: “a good bill in theory, with several flaws in practice”

Pugh: we must we must be able to guarantee safety before we start fracking

PMQs: Tim Farron asks “Question of the week” – Ed Balls signals four runs

PMQs: Nadine Dorries asks question. No-one dies.

PMQs: You can’t gesticulate your way out of a Balls-up

DPMQs: Something has happened here

PMQs: Ed Miliband just about hits the barn door

The top five London MPs for outside earnings

PMQs: The nodding donkey and the nasal twang have left the building

PMQs: Nadine Dorries leaves the PM speechless

Meral Hussein Ece writes: my contribution in the Lords to the riots debate

Today’s by-election: Excepted hereditary peers

Peer told to “cease and desist” claiming he’s a member of the House of Lords

End of term report for Lib Dem MPs’ Class of 2010

Is John Healey as dumb as a bag of spanners?

House of Lords Reform: the Joint Select Committee calls for evidence

PMQs: The tectonic plates shift

Adrian Sanders MP compares the PCC to a “fishnet condom”

DPMQs: “Grotesque” and “beneath contempt” – Clegg on the Milly Dowler phone hacking allegations

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Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good…

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

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What’s going on with party strategy?

Category Archives: Parliament

Where we started from: “a good bill in theory, with several flaws in practice”

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