Parliament

What will the Zoom Parliament change?

Parliament will return today, albeit in a very odd way. There will be some MPs in the chamber and others Zooming in. It will not be parliament as we are used to. This hybrid model will mean that debate will be stilted, but it is better than nothing. It is also essential that parliament sits in some form given the powers that the executive has taken on to deal with this crisis. One thing that the Zoom Parliament will change is that it will give an indication of where parliamentary opinion is on the lockdown. I have been struck talking to Tory MPs over the past week or so by

Parliament must return to defend our liberties

MPs seem to have lost interest in defending our liberties. On 25 March Parliament went into recess a week early when our fundamental freedoms are under threat, our economy is being shredded, and our most independent-minded individuals, such as the self-employed and entrepreneurs, are being required to plead for state aid or bank loans. Above all, Parliament did not even scrutinise the most draconian measures enacted since the second world war. Both houses went into recess on 25 March. The coronavirus regulations were laid before Parliament at 2.30 pm on 26 March and came into force immediately. These regulations granted the police powers to impose fixed-penalty notices on people for

Sunday shows round-up: Shop just for what you and your family needs

Robert Jenrick – We will do ‘whatever it takes’ to support those at risk Sophy Ridge was first joined this morning by the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick. With the threat from coronavirus still looming large, Jenrick told Ridge that the Chief Medical Officer was now officially advising around 1.5 million people at particular risk from the virus to remain indoors for potentially as long as three months. He pledged that the government would do its utmost to support them: RJ: We are writing to these people… and we’re asking them, as soon as practical, to stay at home and to do so for a prolonged period, perhaps as long as

Robert Peston

Not even God knows what happens to Brexit now

After yesterday’s historic negotiations between EU leaders here in Brussels – while Theresa May was out of the room – here is what we now know about Brexit. We are not leaving the EU on 29 March 2019, the Brexit day that was supposedly set in stone. We may yet leave on 22 May this year, but only if next week MPs finally – at a third time of asking, and probably on Tuesday – vote for Theresa May’s widely derided Brexit plan. We could leave without a Brexit deal on the new Brexit day, 12 April – if the PM’s vote is lost. Or we could leave at an

Cindy Yu

The EU has just given parliament more time to take control of Brexit

Last night, the EU27 unanimously rejected Theresa May’s request for a June Brexit extension and told her 22 May at the latest – or 12 April if she couldn’t pass her deal). This pushes the cliff edge back by just a little, and makes nothing easier for her. If her deal doesn’t pass, she would have to choose a no deal, or a long extension and agree to hold European parliament elections. But that’s assuming that she will still be in control of the process at that point. Crucially, the extension gives time for MPs to take control of Brexit in the next three weeks. If her deal is rejected

Why has coronavirus not closed parliament?

Why hasn’t parliament been closed after Health minister Nadine Dorries contracted coronavirus? Why isn’t the government demanding the cancellation of large events and school closures to help limit the spread of the illness? Why isn’t it copying other countries who have introduced much more draconian measures, to the extent that Atlético Madrid fans arriving in Liverpool are watching a game that would have been closed to them in their home country? Health Secretary Matt Hancock updated the Commons on the outbreak this evening, and ended up having to answer all of these questions. His main defence against these sorts of questions was that the research and modelling suggests the government’s

What happens to ex-MPs?

Parliament returns tomorrow – without 47 of the people who were MPs just a few weeks ago. Some, like those standing as independents, had a pretty good hunch that they’d be booted out by the electorate on Thursday. Others had less notice, and realised only as the campaign wore on that their constituencies, many of which had been solidly Labour for decades, were turning away from them. Many of them will be in Westminster in the next few days to clear out their offices and make their staff redundant. You can usually tell the difference between a re-elected MP and one of their colleagues who lost as you watch them

Judgment day: the danger of courts taking over politics

Who runs Britain? When Boris Johnson’s lawyers made their case in front of the Supreme Court this week, defending his right to prorogue parliament, they in effect brought it back to this simple question. This was a controversy for politicians to settle, not courts. Judges, they said, should think twice about ‘entering the political arena’ and unsettling the UK’s ‘careful constitutional and political balance’. He may be the first prime minister to frame the matter so starkly, but no previous prime minister has had to. This is about far more than Brexit. Britain is witnessing political litigation on a hitherto unseen scale. We have a government that has lost a

Word of the week: ‘prorogue’

It was most unlooked-for that a king should ally with Whig politicians to seek parliamentary reform, but that was what William IV did when Earl Grey was trying to carry the Great Reform Bill in 1831. When Grey apologised for putting him in a hurry, the Sailor King exclaimed: ‘Never mind that. I am always at single anchor.’ Parliament was bedlam, Peel seemed ‘about to fall into a fit’, the Speaker had ‘a face equally red and quivering with rage’. The Lords had tabled a motion to stop the King dissolving parliament. To head them off from infringing his prerogative, William decided to prorogue  it in person. When told by

Is this misunderstanding behind the rise of populism?

The latest stage in a series of arcane gambits and cunning plans designed to frustrate Britain’s exit from the EU came in the form of Jeremy Corbyn’s recent letter to leading opponents of a no-deal Brexit, inviting them to discuss the joint coordination efforts. In his letter, Corbyn rightly predicts that during the next few weeks the country will enter a ‘constitutional and political storm’. Up to now, however, the response of our political elite to this impending crisis has been confused. Radical Leavers claim Parliament can be prorogued to allow a no-deal Brexit to pass without further intervention from MPs. Lib Dems and Labour have argued over who should

Why October 10th is Boris Johnson’s best bet for a snap election

Boris Johnson thrives on risk. His political life so far has consisted of a succession of gambles that have paid off: leaving the Commons to be Tory mayoral candidate in a Labour-voting city; choosing Leave in the referendum against the odds and the establishment; resigning as foreign secretary; and then becoming Prime Minister when many thought he was a busted flush. These decisions are the marks of a man from whom we ought to expect the unexpected. And there is good reason for him to now make the ultimate bet and call a snap election. It’s now widely assumed that Jeremy Corbyn will table a motion of no confidence soon

The six wittiest conservatives

Left-wing people are funny and Conservatives are not. That’s the myth the Left like to perpetuate – particularly left-wing “comedians”, usually with all the wit and subtlety of John McDonnell at a Palestine Solidarity rally. We have in Boris Johnson a Conservative Prime Minister famous for his wit and wordplay – a man who famously declared during the 2005 election campaign that “Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.” But, he’s not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, Tory to light up Parliament with his quips. Churchill was the master, naturally, but, as the current Prime

Jacob Rees-Mogg and the mystery of the conference recess

“What is going on with the conference recess?” asked Valerie Vaz during Jacob Rees-Mogg’s first outing for Business Questions as Leader of the House. She sounded exasperated, and who can blame her? After all, it was the sixth week in a row she asked the question. And it was the sixth week that she was fobbed off. So what is going on? Normally conference recess dates are bundled together with the dates of other recesses and tabled earlier in the parliamentary session. In 2018, the recesses for the forthcoming summer, conference, November and Christmas were approved on March 20th. In 2017, summer and conference went together on June 22nd (after

Why MPs’ mental health matters

Given the level of threats that they face, and the bizarre life they often lead, it’s no surprise that MPs have a higher preponderance of mental health problems than the general public. A study published this week in the British Medical Journal found that 34 per cent of parliamentarians had the symptoms of a common mental disorder, with the rate in the general public at a lower 26 per cent. What’s more striking about the research, which surveyed nearly a quarter of MPs, is that so many of them – 77 per cent – had any idea that there was a dedicated mental health service in Parliament. The Parliamentary Health

Portrait of the week | 11 April 2019

Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, wrote to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, asking for an extension until 30 June of the period under Article 50 for which the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. She hoped for parliament to agree to an ‘acceptance of the withdrawal agreement without reopening it’, perhaps through reaching a consensus by means of ‘a small number of clear options on the future relationship that could be put to the House in a series of votes’. She thought her talks with Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, might reach such a consensus. Not only that, but she hoped that

This is MPs’ chance to reinvigorate democracy. Will they take it?

MPs are rather bewildered today. It’s not just that some of them are trying to understand the intricacies of the Labour Party whipping operation, with frontbenchers saying one thing in broadcast interviews, and the whips saying quite another in private conversations. It’s also that parliamentarians are having to decide what it is they actually want from Brexit. This is a significant shift for all of them, whether they were elected two decades ago or in the most recent general election: MPs’ job is to decide whether or not to let legislation written by the government of the day pass unamended. Now, rather than simply rejecting a bill, or making changes

Splitting headache

The first thing to note about the ‘South Bank seven’ is that they are nothing like the four former Labour cabinet ministers who split the party in 1981, forming the SDP. The Gang of Four were national figures who between them had held every major office of state, bar the top job. Most of the MPs who announced from a swish venue on the South Bank that they were quitting Labour to set up a new outfit have little to no public profile. They’re more likely to be an answer on Pointless than stopped in the street for a photo. While the most well-known member, Chuka Umunna, has high ambitions

Why we are still no closer to a Brexit prognosis

I have this mental image of Brexit Britain on a hospital ward waiting for treatment that never comes. We are hanging on for an operation that is supposed to make us stronger and happier, but we still don’t know what kind of procedure it will be – or even when or whether it will definitely happen. This coming Thursday was supposed to be a big day. It was billed as when MPs would vote on whether Brexit should be postponed, and what kind of Brexit they might eventually support. But it now looks as though the consultant in charge of our treatment, the prime minister, will announce on Tuesday or Wednesday

Boles’s crazy plan

At first, it seems fanciful. A backbench MP, Nick Boles, proposes to take power away from the government and place it in the hands of MPs, to prevent a no-deal Brexit. Can one backbencher usurp power in this way? It’s ambitious. But under the British system, government reports to parliament, not the other way around. Usually the distinction is moot, because government can control the Commons. But when that control collapses, every kind of mischief becomes possible. Until a couple of months ago I was director of legislative affairs under Theresa May in No. 10, where it was my job to look at parliamentary procedures. It’s quite a minefield. Right now,

James Forsyth

The rebel alliance

Straight after the government’s epic defeat in the House of Commons on Tuesday night, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, the Business Secretary, Greg Clark, and the Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, held a conference call with business leaders to try to reassure them. The principal worry was about ‘no deal’. The Chancellor’s message of comfort was revealing of where power has shifted to. He emphasised how backbenchers are manoeuvring to stop no deal. In other words, they needn’t take his word that it wasn’t going to happen; they should take parliament’s. It was an admission that the government is no longer in control of Brexit. Further evidence of this power shift came