Here’s a question which tends to get lost amid the heat and noise generated around the issue of Lords reform – what do the members of the second chamber actually do?
Or at least, what are the Liberal Democrat peers doing on a daily basis? And this isn’t meant in a facetious way. Unless you’re in the gainful employment of the party’s peers, or a broken leg has left you with far too much time in front of BBC Parliament, chances are you might not know how the Lords are working to ensure that every piece of legislation which crosses their desks reflect as much as possible Lib Dem principles and priorities.
This can change in dramatic circumstances – even The Times last week gave credit to our peers for the way they used their influence to make numerous changes to the Health and Social Care Bill. But in general the Lib Dem Lords’ views and how they are reflected in what the government is doing may be passing even the most doughty campaigner by.
It is with this in mind that the group – at 90-strong, probably the largest group of Liberal Democrats in any legislature in the world – marks this week’s start of the autumn term with the launch of its first weekly e-mail newsletter.
Letter of the Lords (pun fully intended) will be e-mailed every Friday to anyone who signs up and will feature news, quotes, the week’s best tweets and a useful guide to upcoming business in the chamber. Hopefully it will also get readers’ feedback in the form of emails and Twitter interaction – it’s your newsletter.
It is all part of a concerted attempt by the Lib Dem peers to get more heavily involved in promoting the group’s activities to the wider party and beyond. Together with more heavy use of their official Twitter account and the peers’ ambitious plan to make 1,000 constituency visits by the time of the next general election, much more light should be shed into their business from this Friday until, well, the Lords is finally reformed…
To start receiving the newsletter e-mail [email protected]. And follow the peers on Twitter @LibDemLords.
* Matt Withers is Media & PR Officer for the Liberal Democrat Lords.
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3 Comments
I think this is a great idea and long overdue.
Any chance of something similar for our MEPs? As the party that believes in European transparency, I’ve long argued that we should club together and fund MySociety to set up a Lib Dem-branded TheyWorkForEU website (pun definitely intended!)
I agree, this is a great idea.
Dave you might be interested in Bill Newton-Dunn’s newsletter which he sends out monthly. Full of good stuff about the work of the European Parliament and background info on the issues.
Excellent suggestion Dave – I was about to say the same thing. I know some of our MEPs provide regular bulletins, I get the one from Chris Davies, but only knew about it due to some correspondence a few years ago with his office.
It would be quite good if our HQ was informed more about what gets done in the European Parliament too! Then they might be able to use it in our campaigns and PR.