Tag Archives: House of Commons
The Houses of Parliament – stronger together
Last week, I secured a debate in the Lords to make the case for both Houses of Parliament remaining co-located in the same city. As I pointed out – and I was pleased various media reports carried this observation – … Continue reading
Is the House of Commons too powerful?
Last month, I gave the Bingham Lecture in Constitutional Studies at the University of Oxford. The title of the lecture was ‘Is the House of Commons too powerful?’ When I gave the Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture in 2016, I argued … Continue reading
Is the House of Commons becoming too powerful?
In my 2016 Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture, I developed the theme that for Parliament these are the best of times and the worst of times. It was a theme to which I returned in my Daily Telegraph article earlier this … Continue reading
The paradox facing the House of Commons
Today’s Daily Telegraph carried a lengthy article by me on the role of the Commons in the light of the Government defeats in the House this week in relation to Brexit. My argument, the core of which will be familiar … Continue reading
John Bercow at Hull University
The Speaker, John Bercow, was in Hull today to deliver a Parliamentary Studies Lecture on ‘Why Parliament Matters’. The University is one of twenty accredited for the delivery of such lectures by clerks of both Houses and the Speaker’s was … Continue reading
Law, conventions and practices
I have just received my copy of the second edition of Parliament and the Law, edited by Alexander Horne and Gavin Drewry. I have contributed a chapter, with Lucinda Maer, on ‘Relationship between the two Houses’. That relationship is shaped … Continue reading
More on the youngest MP
I thought I would add a little more, further to my previous post on the youngest MP. R. G. Thorne in The History Parliament: The House of Commons 1790-1820: I – Survey (1986) provides data on MPs elected under age in … Continue reading
The youngest MP
The BBC this morning was reporting that Mhairi Black, the SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, is, at the age of 20, ‘Britain’s youngest member of Parliament since 1667’. The problem with this is that it is incorrect by … Continue reading
The Norton View 