Category Archives: Scrutiny

Government pre-emption of Parliament

Posted on May 1, 2013 by pp549

The Lords’ Select Committee on the Constitution, just before prorogation, finished its report on pre-emption of Parliament. This is where government ministers incur costs and make changes to legally established bodies in anticipation of the bill that authorises them becoming … Continue reading →

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Ping pong with grenades: what happens when the Lords has the upper hand

Posted on March 21, 2013 by pp549

The Justice and Security Bill is currently going through parliament, but because it started in the Lords the Parliament Acts won’t apply. The Commons has sent back the bill and has undone many of the Lords amendments – this is … Continue reading →

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Parliament’s role in hiring and firing judges

Posted on March 28, 2012 by pp549

I mentioned, quite a while ago now, when I posted about the report advocating parliament having an increased role in public appointments that there was another report out soon examining parliament’s role in hiring and firing judges in England and … Continue reading →

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A History of Committees in the House of Lords

Posted on February 13, 2012 by pp549

Early committees Back in the formative days of parliament, petitions would often by committed to a group of the King’s Council – known as triers – who could either make changes and report the petition back to parliament (if it … Continue reading →

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Bercow’s urgent question revolution?

Posted on January 21, 2012 by pp549

It’s fairly common in recent times for Parliaments to have some mechanism so they can question government ministers as a chamber. In the UK House of Commons, unique at least amongst the Commonwealth realms, the whole question time procedure is … Continue reading →

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