Tag Archives: Parliament

Parliament has passed a bill which forbids the Prime Minister from leaving the EU without a deal. If he is unable to come to an agreement with the EU, or if that deal is not agreed by Parliament then he has to ask the EU for an extension. What happens …

This speech was originally made by the author in the House of Lords on 10 July 2019 My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, has reminded us of his own deep commitment to devolution, and it is one that I share. In his remarks responding to the Minister earlier, the …

Yesterday epitomised the farce that Parliament has descended into. For the second time in one week (to say nothing of the multiple previous rejections), the Remainer Parliament rejected four Remain alternatives – hand picked for them by a biased, self-aggrandizing, buffoonish Remain supporting speaker. The lead proponent of Norway Plus …

The sovereignty of Parliament is uncontested. The Supreme Court reminded us in the Gina Miller case as have a thousand constitutional commentators before and since. This is the law and it is correct. A recently formed group of MPs – the Independent Group – have proclaimed their independence of their …

A disgraceful thing happened yesterday. Parliament, having blocked, decelerated and harried Britain’s exit from the EU for two years, decided to delay Brexit. May had said a great many times that No Deal is better than a Bad Deal, but refused to acknowledge that hers was a bad deal, despite …

The EU is not prepared for a Brexit on 29 March. It is just not Brexiteer supporting sources confirming this -the largely anti-No Deal Politico and CapX have both recently written on this issue. Ireland especially is in danger of facing a calamitous Brexit – as the arrogant Leo Varadkar …

How many times have you thought ‘Why does it have to be so complicated’? Looking for white sauce recipes I was confounded with requests to decide if I was OK with my data being used/searched for a better user experience. No I just want a sauce recipe. In the end …

It is now 28 months since the people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland went to the polls to enact the most important democratic political and economic decision this great country of ours has ever been called upon to make. Yes, we have had General Elections that in and of …

Despite the attempts of every man-made ideology to persecute and annihilate it, Christianity has survived. From Nero and Diocletian to Hitler, Stalin and Mao; from Roman dictatorship to Nazi and Communist atheism; it has survived. Paradoxically, as Tertullian observed, persecution has proved to be the seed of the Church. Christianity, …

Does the UK government have the unilateral right to ignore instructions from the electorate if it finds them to be “harmful” based on narrowly subjective criteria? And if so, shouldn’t we do something to constrain that power? A couple of days ago I mused that the most fundamental question facing …

The iconic Palace of Westminster has to undergo massive repairs and Parliament has agreed to move out for up to six years. While I  personally think it sends the wrong message to the wider world (one of national decline- leaving the nation’s most recongnisable landmark) to move out, the Houses …

Upset by how Brexit is being prosecuted by the government, overseen by Parliament and reported on by the media? It’s time to stop lamenting the symptoms and fixing the underlying issues with our constitution and system of government Of the sum total of British political discourse at all levels, a …

After Brexit, attracting more exceptional citizen politicians and fewer mediocre career politicians is the next crucial step towards democratic renewal in Britain A worthwhile article by new Labour MP Laura Smith for LabourList underlines the urgent need for more politicians who look and sound like contemporary human beings rather than …

Cynical, calculating and alarmist MPs are undermining faith in democracy with their conspiratorial anti-Brexit shenanigans “A voter registration site that crashed in the run-up to last year’s EU referendum could have been targeted by a foreign cyber attack, MPs say”, screeches the BBC. The Guardian, spurred by its anti-Brexit bias to …

Again, the country has never been asked. Is Great Britain any less a nation than Scotland, Wales or England? Does Great Britain not have a clear identity – clear enough to this writer at least as will be discussed later – with a long (300 years is a reasonable chunk …

Yesterday I listened to bits of the Supreme Court hearing and some of the post match analysis. Something I have never understood in this whole business is that in 2015, the House agreed by a vote of 6:1 in favour that a referendum be held in the UK to determine the mandate …

Without this principle of democratic consent, Parliament is empowered to make fundamental changes to how Britain governs itself. Parliament overturned the practice of the past fifty years; it crossed a constitutional Rubicon. Unless this is checked, the real winner of the Referendum was Westminster itself. The surprisingly large vote for …

Consultation A legal process was followed for the referendum. Legislation by the UK Parliament was necessary as the devolution legislation specifically denied the Scottish Parliament the power to decide on independence, amongst other things. These were the “reserved matters” (section 29 of the Scotland Act 1998). There was consultation. A …

Finding himself prematurely out of power and seeing no value in life as a mere backbench MP, David Cameron brings the curtain down on a bland, centrist, disappointing and entirely forgettable political career Having successfully completed Tony Blair’s fourth term of office and having a premature end called to his fifth, David …

MPs do not have a divine right to represent their constituencies forever once selected by their local party, Jeremy Corbyn is quite right to consider mandatory reselection for MPs and all political parties that profess to care about democracy should follow his lead The Telegraph leads today with a breathless …