Whilst rumours of a list of new Peers swirls around the Palace of Westminster, the Lords returns to work on Tuesday, and a somewhat lop-sided week continues through to Friday in order to fit in the postponed debate on Leveson.
Never let it be said though that the Lords needs a gentle warm-up before asking the difficult questions. Tuesday sees oral questions on airport capacity in London, housebuilding in South East England and the effect of the ‘fiscal cliff’ solution on the UK economy, before the Growth and Infrastructure Bill receives its Second Reading. Yes, that’s the one that proposes, amongst other things, to offer employees the opportunity to sign away their employment rights in exchange for shares. I can’t frankly see it having much positive impact, although it might offer another opportunity for bad employers to abuse their staff further.
Elsewhere, the Orders abolishing British Shipbuilders and the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal are in Grand Committee as part of the ‘bonfire of quangos’ that was promised. Didn’t make a huge impact on the public consciousness, did it? And, on the committee corridors, the European Union Committee continues its evidence gathering on EU Enlargement.
On Wednesday, Dick Newby takes the Public Service Pensions Bill through its Committee Stage. I won’t comment, given my blatant conflict of interest, but needless to say, the public sector unions aren’t terribly happy. Anthony Lester ends the day with a debate on UK government-funded medical care for women and girls impregnated by rape in armed conflict. In Grand Committee, meanwhile, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill enters Day 6 of its Committee Stage but the most entertainment is likely to be had at the Constitution Committee, who will be grilling someone called Nick Clegg about the success of the Government’s constitutional reform agenda. Seriously though, this is an annual evidence session, and provides a platform for Nick to outline what is intended for 2013’s legislative schedule.
Curiously, the legislative programme for Thursday is all in Grand Committee, with two pieces of European legislation, the European Union (Croatian Accession and Irish Protocol) Bill and the European Union (Approvals) Bill going through their Committee stages, whilst in the Main Chamber, debates on disability services for people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and bees are scheduled. However, those interested in diversity issues will be drawn to the recommendation for a Reasoned Opinion on the EU Committee’s report on women on boards.
The EU Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality provides for national parliaments to scrutinise draft legislation specifically on the issue of compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, and for a reasoned opinion procedure where a proposal is found not to comply with the principle. Any chamber of a national parliament may submit a reasoned opinion (Article 6 of the Protocol). If there are enough of them, a review of the proposal will be triggered (the “yellow or orange card”) in accordance with Article 7 of the Protocol.
The EU Committee has concluded that the proposal from Brussels that there should be mandatory quotas for women on boards is a breach of the Protocol, and wishes to have it reviewed.
And finally, Friday sees the postponed debate on the Lord Justice Leveson report on the culture, practices and ethics of the press. Expect an awful lot of unhappiness about press standards, especially as the noble Lord Prescott is likely to intervene.
* Mark Valladares subscribes to the Letter of the Lords, and thinks that you should too…
One Comment
As good a place as any
If the (zombie) boundary review doesn’t go ahead, these constituency names proposed by various Commissions have never been used before………..and may never be used.
Northern Ireland
*Belfast South East
*Belfast South West
*Coleraine and North Antrim
*Glenshane
Scotland
*Airdrie and Coatbridge South
*Angus East and Kincardine
*Angus West and East Perthshire
*Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
*Ayr North, Troon and Cumnock
*Ayrshire Central and Arran
*Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty
*Clackmannanshire and Dunfermline West
*Clydesdale and Larkhall
*Cumbernauld and Coatbridge North
*Deeside and Gordon
*East Dunbartonshire and Kilsyth
*East Kilbride and Rutherglen
*East Renfrewshire and Hairmyres
*Edinburgh Central and Leith
*Edinburgh South East
*Galloway, Ayr South and Carrick
*Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West
*Inverness and Skye
*Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes
*Midlothian and Tweeddale
*Motherwell, Wishaw and Bellshill
*Paisley and Renfrew
*Perth and Kintoss-shire
*Renfrewshire South and Ayrshire North
*Stirling and Crieff
*West Dunbartonshire and Bearsden North
England (excluding London)
*Aldridge, Brownhills and Bloxwich
*Ashton-under-Lyne and Denton
*Barnsley North and Hemsworth
*Barnsley South
*Basildon and Thurrock East
*Berwick, Alnwick and Morpeth
*Bideford, Bude and Launceston
*Billericay and Great Dunmow
*Birmingham Erdington and Castle Bromwich
*Birmingham Harborne
*Blyth and Ashington
*Bodmin and St Austell
*Bolton North and Darwen
*Bootle and North Liverpool
*Bournemouth West and Bourne Valley
*Bradford East and Horsforth
*Braintree and Witham
*Bridgnorth, Wellington and The Wrekin
*Brighton East and Seahaven
*Bromsgrove and Droitwich
*Burnham and Glastonbury
*Burnley and Accrington East
*Canterbury and Faversham
*Chatham and Malling
*Coalville and Keyworth
*Colne Valley and Denby Dale
*Crosby and Maghull
*Daventry and Lutterworth
*Derby East
*Derby West
*Didcot and Wantage
*Dudley East and Oldbury
*Gateshead East and Jarrow
*Goole and Howden
*Grimsby North and Barton
*Grimsby South and Cleethorpes
*Harwich and Clacton
*Hazel Grove and Poynton
*Henley and Thame
*Herne Bay
*Isle of Wight East
*Isle of Wight West
*Kenilworth and Dorridge
*Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice
*Kingswood and Keynsham
*Leeds Metropolitan and Ossett
*Leeds South East and Castleford
*Leeds West, Pudsey and Tong
*Lewes and Uckfield
*Liverpool Riverside and Walton
*Ludlow and Leominster
*Luton North and Dunstable
*Malvern and Ledbury
*Manchester Gorton and Reddish North
*Mersey Banks and Weaver
*Mid Bedfordshire and Harpenden
*Mid Dorset
*Newcastle upon Tyne North and Cramlington
*Norfolk Coastal
*North East Essex
*Nottingham North and Hucknall
*Nottingham South and West Bridgford
*Penrith and Solway
*Rossendale and Oswaldtwistle
*Rotherham and Sheffield East
*Rotherham North
*Sheffield Hallam and Penistone
*Sheffield North and Dodworth
*South East Hertfordshire
*South Gloucestershire East
*South Gloucestershire West
*Southend East and Rochford
*St Neots and Huntingdon
*Stockton North and Aycliffe
*Stourbridge and Dudley
*Tavistock and Plympton
*The Cities of London and Westminster
*The Weald
*Truro and Newquay
*Walsall West
*Warminster and Shaftesbury
*Washington
*Wells and North East Somerset
*West Cumbria
*West Wiltshire
*Wirral Deeside
*Wisbech and Downham Market
London
*Bexleyheath and Erith
*Sidcup and Welling
*Thamesmead and Plumstead
*Wembley
*Greenford and Northolt
*Willesden
*Islington South and Holborn
*Camden Town and Regent’s Park
*Carshalton and Coulsdon
*Ealing Central
*Hammersmith and Acton
*Southall and Heston
*Edmonton and Tottenham Hale
*Eltham and Charlton
*Greenwich and Lewisham Central
*Stamford Hill and South Tottenham
*Bethnal Green and Shoreditch
*Hayes and Feltham
*Brentworth and Isleworth
*Hampton
*Wimbledon and Coombe
*Clapham and Streatham
*Battersea and Vauxhall
*Bermondsey and South Bank
*Deptford and Rotherhithe
*East Ham and Loxford
*Bow and Stratford
*Richmond and Twickenham
*Dulwich and Peckham
*Poplar and Stepney
Wales
*Conwy and Colwyn
*Denbigh and North Montgomeryshire
*Brecon, Radnor and Montgomery
*Flint and North Denbighshire
*Gwynedd
*Wrexham Maelor
*Ynys Môn a Bangor
*Caerfyrddin
*Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire
*South Pembrokeshire
*Cardiff North and South West Gwent
*The Vale of Glamorgan
*Aberavon and Ogmore
*Merthyr Tydfil, Rhymney and Lower Cynon
*Rhondda and Aberdare
*Gower and Swansea West
*Neath and the Swansea Valley