Professor David Judge of the University of Strathclyde provides a valuable examination of the current parliamentary balance in the House of Commons. He considers how representative the chamber is and outlines some of the potential difficulties in effecting scrutiny that may lay ahead. The blog was originally written for the LSE Politics and Policy page but has been kindly shared with the PSA Parliaments Specialist Group.
Author: psaparliaments
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Essay Competition: Judging Panel Announced
We are very grateful to Professor Robert Hazell for agreeing to chair this year’s essay competition. Alongside him on the panel this year will be Adam Evans (UK Parliament) and Louise Thompson (University of Manchester).
Professor Hazell will kindly lend us his expertise in all things constitutional to bring some important insight to the panel.
If you have been marking parliamentary studies essays over the last few weeks, please consider submitting an entry to our competition. Essays must be no more than 3500 words and can focus on any legislature. More details can be found here.
In a piece written for The Conversation, Peter John McLoughlin, Queen’s University Belfast, provides a useful consideration of how the deadlock at Stormont has been overcome. The blog also outlines the continuing importance of legislative vetoes held by Sinn Féin and the DUP.
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Parliament: You in Danger, Girl
PSA Parliaments Group Convenor Dr Marc Geddes considers the potential impact that the recent Conservative victory may have upon effective parliamentary scrutiny. The blog discusses the current government’s agenda for legislative reform and the changes that may be brought about by a shake-up in the staffing of key parliamentary roles.
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Treaties: Parliament’s Blind Spot?
In the second blog from our annual conference ‘Parliaments: Coming of Age’, Eleanor Hourigan, Counsel for Human Rights and International Law at the UK Parliament, discusses how to improve parliamentary scrutiny of treaties.
Jack Sheldon and Hedydd Phylip discuss potential improvements to interparliamentary relations among the UK’s four legislatures, in the first blog from our Parliaments: Coming of Age? conference.
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November 2019 newsletter
In this month’s newsletter, we have the following announcements/information:
- Ideas for 2020 wanted
- Communications Officer vacancy
- #Parl19 – Cardiff 2019
- Essay Competition 2020 – now open
- Recently on our blog
If you have any notices / messages you would like us to circulate to the group, please let us know.
Best wishes,
Marc (@marcgeddes), Louise (@LouiseVThompson) Alex (@A_Meakin) and Seán (@S_Haughey)
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Essay Competition 2020
Launch of the PSA Parliaments essay competition 2020 for undergraduate students.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has produced a report into Russian interference in UK politics, but it cannot be published without government approval. In a blog originally posted by Democratic Audit Andrew Defty explains that Number 10’s failure to release the report before Parliament was dissolved is the latest in a series of government actions that have hindered effective parliamentary scrutiny of the intelligence and security services. Reform to ensure the committee has greater independence from executive obstruction should be considered in the next Parliament.
A recap of the PSA Parliaments annual conference Parliaments: Coming of Age, held at the National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff, on 7-8 November 2019.