Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles has received a written answer on the cost of the 2011 Census. The census is taken every ten years. It is an attempt to provide essential information about the country, "from national to neighbourhood level for government, business, and the community", as the Office […]
Quentin Davies, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, is not wildly popular on the Conservative benches, from which he defected at the encouragement of Gordon Brown. Yesterday in the Commons he was the subject of severe criticism from Conservative MPs, including Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox. Major Sebastian Morley, formerly of the […]
Update: Brian Binley’s EDM had been tabled very shortly before this post was written, and has since attracted lots of signatures. Early Day Motions are effectively petitions signed by MPs to draw attention to an issue; although they are motions for debate, few actually end up being debated. They can be serious, they can be […]
Last Thursday the House of Lords held a debate on the funding of sport, secured by Lord Glentoran. A Conservative peer, he won a gold medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics in bobsledding. He is now a shadow minister for both Northern Ireland and the Olympics. The Government has sought to bask in the success […]
Devizes MP Michael Ancram, formerly Shadow Foreign Secretary, has received a somewhat alarming written answer about drugs in Afghanistan. (Poppies can be turned into opium.) "Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of UK efforts to eradicate poppy growing in Afghanistan; […]
On Tuesday I wrote that "Parliament isn’t just a place to score political points". Yet some Labour MPs obviously disagree. One might have hoped that during a financial crisis members would want to use Treasury Questions as an opportunity to represent the concerns of their constituents, but apparently not. To his credit, the Speaker was […]
The House of Commons saw something rather unusual yesterday – a Conservative front bench spokesman going out of his way to rebut the remarks of a Conservative backbencher. Speaking in a debate on defence, Harwich MP Douglas Carswell talked about procurement: "Labour came to power promising to overhaul defence procurement, yet according to the best-selling […]
There are a few noteworthy written answers in the most recent copies of Hansard. In the Lords’ answers, crossbencher Lord Laird was informed about prison costs: "Lord Laird asked Her Majesty’s Government: What is the average cost of keeping a person in prison in England for one week in the last year for which figures […]
Yesterday HM Opposition held a debate in the House of Commons about the legacy of the 2012 Olympics. Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP made clear that the Conservatives have supported the London Games from the bid stage onwards. But he also made this observation: "Our concern is not primarily about the economic legacy, and […]
The MP for South Norfolk, Richard Bacon, introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill yesterday. It seeks to improve food labelling, specifically in terms of the country of origin of a food item. Mr Bacon told the House of Commons: "Pork that has been imported from Denmark and then packaged in the UK may be called […]
David Amess, MP for Southend West, has received an answer to a written question which serves as a timely reminder of the problems facing Israel: "Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he received of terrorist attacks in the State of Israel since July 2008; what discussions […]
Yesterday the House of Commons continued to debate the Climate Change Bill. In particular, the Government is eager that emissions from shipping and international aviation be reduced. They have not been included in the Bill’s target of an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, however. Instead amendments have been introduced that […]
Several MPs indicated an interest in the activity levels of prisoners yesterday. The most telling exchange was between Edward Garnier QC, MP for Harborough and Shadow Justice Minister, and David Hanson, a Minister of State in the Justice Department. "Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough) (Con): In July, the Government severely cut the amount of time that […]
Parliament isn’t just a place to score political points. Written questions are supposed to serve as a way for MPs to glean important information. The following question from James Paice, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, has received an interesting answer: Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much […]
David Jones, Conservative MP for Clwyd West, raised the urgent issue of the effect of red tape on the police during yesterday’s oral questions to the Home Office. "Mr. Jones: A recent survey of members of the North Wales Police Federation found that more than 50 per cent. of the officers questioned reported levels of […]