Tag Archives: lord norton

Lords signals its intent to change controversial section of Public Bodies Bill

Last week I wrote about the Public Bodies Bill and the power grab it makes to let the government change the law in future without proper Parliamentary control, similar though on a smaller scale to what Labour proposed previously with the so-called Abolition of Parliament Bill. David Howarth echoed these concerns at the weekend:

The Public Bodies Bill might not presage the end of parliamentary democracy in the way the 2006 Bill did, but it is a sloppy, lazily drafted bill that assumes, just as the 2006 Bill did, that those in power are all good chaps who would

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments

I agree with Adrian Sanders and 22 Conservative MPs

Yesterday in Parliament Adrian Sanders and 22 Conservative MPs voted to reduce the maximum number of ministers allowed in the Commons in line with the forthcoming reduction in the number of MPs:

If the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom decreases below 650, the limit on the number of holders of Ministerial offices entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons referred to in section 2(1) must be decreased by at least a proportionate amount.

ParliamentReducing the number of ministers is something I’ve supported …

Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 10 Comments
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  • Peter Martin
    Andy Burnham does seem to have a knack of choosing constituencies which don't have a railway station -at least not for their major town. Neither Ashton-in-Maker...
  • John Kelly
    @Tom Arms – good article but I must take issue with you on the following paragraph: “Except for the occasional exchange of fire, fighting between Hamas and...
  • Jana
    @Peter Wrigley “ the maximum amount of individual freedom that doesn’t infringe the freedom others.” With due respect, I regard that as a libertarian ...
  • David Ford
    I have a 'better' record than the man in Cirencester: never elected anyone in a FPTP election since 1970 (despite Eric Lubbock getting 43% then). But I have al...
  • David S
    The goal of a representative electoral system is not to ensure that this or that party gets elected. The goal should to be to ensure that every voter, or as clo...