The EU Withdrawal Bill’s return to the Commons saw SNP MPs protest about their voices having been excluded from the debate. Our Co-Convenor, Louise Thompson, explains how parliamentary procedures can indeed restrict debate for smaller opposition parties, and considers whether something ought to be done about it.
Tag: Westminster
Scotland and Wales’ devolved political institutions, elected under proportional Additional Member electoral systems, were intended to produce a more consensual political culture. However, writes Felicity Matthews, although their electoral rules have increased the proportionality of representation, the structures of the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales have meant that a more consensual approach to policy-making has been more limited than might have been expected.
In February this year, Oxford University Press published Exploring Parliament, which aims to provide an accessible introduction to the workings of the UK parliament. In this post, the book’s editors, Louise Thompson and Cristina Leston-Bandeira, explain why the book is necessary and what it hopes to achieve.
Launch of Exploring Parliament textbook at the House of Commons
In the latest blog from our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Alex Prior (University of Leeds) discusses the use of ‘narrative’ as a means of strengthening parliamentary engagement.
Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Louise Thompson examine the impact of a stage of the legislative process piloted by the House of Commons in 2013, during which the public were invited to comment on a bill undergoing parliamentary scrutiny. They explain why, despite an impressive response, the Public Reading Stage failed to make much of an impact.
In the latest blog from our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Anikka Weerasinghe and Graeme Ramshaw discuss the work of communications professionals within the UK Parliament.
In the latest blog from our Legislatures in Uncertain Times conference, Matt Williams, University of Oxford, discusses differing approaches to legislative language.
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.