In the latest blog from our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Matt Williams, University of Oxford, discusses differing approaches to legislative language.
Category: Blog
In the latest blog from our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Meg Russell and Jack Sheldon discuss the model for a dual mandate English Parliament and ask whether what it proposes is a parliament at all.
What’s happened to the Intelligence and Security Committee? In a new blog, based on his paper at our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Andrew Defty, University of Lincoln, discusses delays, a reduced public presence, and decreasing powers, and questions whether the ISC is in decline.
This week marks thirteen years since the full provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force on 1 January 2005. In a new blog, based on his paper at our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Tom Caygill (Newcastle University) examines the post-legislative scrutiny of the Act, carried out by the House of Commons Justice Select Committee in 2012.
In the second of our blogs from our 2017 conference, Legislatures in Uncertain Times, Ruxandra Serban, UCL, discusses different procedures used to hold Prime Ministers to account in 32 parliamentary democracies.
Parliament has a responsibility to monitor that legislation is implemented as intended and has the expected impact. ‘Post-Legislative Scrutiny’ can help increase government accountability and fulfill parliament’s oversight role. But how exactly do parliaments review the impact of legislation? In a blog based on his presentation at our 2017 Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Franklin De Vrieze (Westminster Foundation for Democracy) discusses the parliamentary experience across different democracies and identifies shared principles.
With no functioning Assembly at Stormont, there have been calls for a reduction or complete cut of salaries for Members of the Legislative Assembly. However, constituency work is continuing in Northern Ireland: Sean Haughey has examined how much constituency service MLAs actually provide, and what it entails.
In its early days, some considered the internet to be the silver bullet that could deal with the deficits of representative democracy. Others had been less optimistic vis-à-vis its potential to foster democracy. In a blog originally posted on LSE British Politics and Policy, Hartwig Pautz looks at whether the e-democracy tool WriteToThem allows for meaningful communication between citizens and their elected representatives.
In the first of our blog series from our Annual Conference, Legislatures in Uncertain Times, Sean Haughey discusses his research into parliamentary questions in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Wright reforms have been widely credited with reinvigorating select committees. In a blog originally published by Democratic Audit, Stephen Bates, Mark Goodwin (University of Birmingham) and Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) take issue with this assumption. They found the reforms have made little or no difference to MP turnover and attendance, which are driven by the parliamentary cycle. When MPs are jostling for payroll vote positions and trying to keep up with constituency duties and votes in the Chamber, select committees are likely to suffer.