Richard Kelly of the House of Commons Library provides an overview of recent developments in the field of parliamentary standards. The blog discusses how institutional arrangements have evolved in response to a series of significant events such as scandals related to ‘cash for questions’ and MP’s expenses.
Author: psaparliaments
Dr Philip Aylett builds on his previous contributions to this blog-site to provide historical insight into the role played by Commons Committees as the UK participated in the European Economic Community during the 1970s and 1980s.
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Latest news from the PSA Parliaments Group
Welcome to our latest newsletter!
Dear members,
In this month’s newsletter, we have the following announcements/information:
- Panels at PSA Annual Conference
- Changes to the Team
- ESRC PhD studentship opportunity – Parliament and Education
- Essay Competition: Judging Panel Announced
- Call for Papers: Parliaments and Security Conference
- Ethnography of Parliaments Panel at EASA
- Job Alert: Lecturer in the Politics of Gender, Sexuality and Identity
- National Assembly for Wales: Academic Fellowship Scheme now open
- Hansard Resource
- 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), Gavin (@GavinHart10) and Seán (@S_Haughey)
Mark Bennister, Ben Yong and Diana Stirbu discuss the lack of a shared parliamentary identity in Westminster, considering the implications for institutional governance and reform.
PSA Parliaments will be contributing a great selection of panels at the PSA 2020 conference, serving to highlight the diverse nature of the research taking place across our network. The theme of the event will be ‘reimagining politics’ as the PSA reaches its 70th year. This provides a great opportunity to showcase some cutting edge scholarship on a range of themes that are central to the understanding of parliaments and legislatures as they evolve in response to contemporary challenges. In total, we have seven panels running at the annual conference, which have been scheduled for Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th April. They cover the following topics:
- Parliamentary Questions: Adversarialism and Constituency Links
- Perspectives on Transparency
- Comparing Parliamentary Perspectives in the UK
- Parliamentary Roles
- Do MPs care about their publics?
- Scrutiny and Legislation
- The Changing Face of Parliament
Full details of the panels can be seen on our website. If you are presenting a paper on one of our panels, or chairing a panel, please make sure that you register for the conference through Ex Ordo by Monday 17th February.
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.
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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.