Governance of Parliament

Themes

Governance of Parliament

How does Parliament govern itself? Who controls the business and procedures in both Houses? Which individuals and bodies provide leadership, and how are their powers distributed? Do MPs and Peers have sufficient resources to perform their legislative and scrutiny functions?

Latest

News / Post Office Horizon Scandal: What is Parliament doing about it? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 33 transcript

Should Parliament simply overturn the convictions of postmasters caught up in the Post Office Horizon scandal? That’s what the Government proposes to do through the Post Office (Horizon system) Offences Bill. But quashing of convictions is normally a matter for the courts. Some MPs have misgivings about setting a constitutional precedent as well as practical concerns about how the Bill will be implemented. We talk to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Bob Neill MP.

News / Is AI set to destroy trust in elections? Tackling misinformation in politics & Parliament, with top fact checker Full Fact's Chris Morris - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 32 transcript

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the capacity to make it far easier to generate and spread political misinformation online. But could it actually impact the result of elections? We talk to Chris Morris, head of fact-checking organisation Full Fact, about the scale of misinformation in politics, the potential impact of AI, and what politicians and organisations like Full Fact can do about it.

News / Rwanda Bill becomes law: but what was really going on behind the scenes in Parliament? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 31 transcript

The Rwanda Bill has made it over the parliamentary finishing line but not without some last-minute drama. We talk to the SNP’s Alison Thewliss MP about what went on in a small room, behind the Speaker’s Chair, away from the cameras!

News / William Wragg's honeytrap crisis, and is Speaker Hoyle under threat? - Parliament Matters podcast, episode 29 transcript

This week the team discuss William Wragg’s fall from grace following a ‘honeytrap sting’; the future of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle; the sanctions available to punish former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells if she has misled MPs; whether Jeffrey Donaldson MP will attend Westminster now he has been charged with criminal offences; and why there has been a 39% reduction in the number of All Party Parliamentary Groups following chnages to the registration rules.

News / Tobacco and Vapes Bill: free vote blows smoke in Rishi Sunak's eyes - Parliament Matters podcast, episode 30 transcript

This week the team discuss the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and the fallout from the Second Reading free vote for Conservative MPs. It's still parliamentary ping-pong on the Rwanda Bill: but what is 'double insistence'? A former Labour adviser has suggested that if the party wins the general election Ministers should make extensive use of delegated powers already on the statute book to push their policy agenda through at speed with minimal parliamentary scrutiny. But what are the risks? And we talk to former Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen about the diplomatic dialogue that lay behind his question this week to his successor Lord Cameron.