Parliament Matters

Why did the Speaker fail to call Diane Abbott during Prime Minister’s Questions? The image of Britain’s first black female MP being talked about at the Despatch Box while not being allowed to say anything herself, once again left the House of Commons looking out of touch. Do Henry VIII powers threaten parliamentary democracy? Former MP and law professor, David Howarth, warns that Ministers are dod...

It’s Budget week and the Chancellor has announced his plans for taxation and provided a fresh economic forecast. But how does Parliament get to grips – indeed does it get to grips - with the nation’s finances? We talk to Baroness Morgan of Cotes, a Conservative Peer who has been both a Treasury Minister and a scrutineer on the Treasury Committee. Henry Midgley of Durham University – who has w...

In this revealing conversation with Alicia Kearns MP, Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, we explore the critical role of parliamentary scrutiny in shaping foreign policy and addressing global challenges. We discover how recent Committee hearings have garnered global attention and influenced diplomatic discourse in overseas capitals and on the streets, particularly when critic...

There was no let up for Mr Speaker as the fall-out continues from last week’s Commons chaos over the Opposition Day debate on Gaza. But is his position now safe? And why has the government pulled a vote on a scheme to exclude MPs accused of sexual harassment or assault from Parliament? Liz Truss MP was interviewed at the Conservative Political Action Conference in America by a man convicted of con...

What happens when a party leader ducks the opportunity to face a long forensic interview on television during a general election campaign? What are the challenges posed to broadcasters when norms are ignored? Boris Johnson famously did that during the last general election: so how will that affect the approach of the parties and the broadcasters when negotiating the terms of future interviews at t...

There were chaotic scenes in the House of Commons this week - as bad as anything seen during the Brexit convulsions – as the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle made a hash of handling the SNPs Opposition Day debate on a ceasefire in Gaza. Furious MPs signed a motion expressing no confidence in the Chair. But why and how did the Speaker end up in this position and can he survive? Is it really a big deal or...

With the House of Commons in recess this week Mark and Ruth catch up with listener's questions on a wide range of parliamentary topics. What was the point of debating an e-petition about the date of the general election? Was there ever a time when the Prime Minister gave a proper answer at PMQs? If the Speaker were to throw an MP out of the House of Commons Chamber for bad behaviour how would he d...

It was supposed to be another culture wars attack line, but Rishi Sunak’s transgender jibe at Prime Minister’s Questions this week landed him in hot water. Is this misstep a sign of things to come in the general election campaign? Could Britain fight a war? We look at the political implications of a new Defence Select Committee report exploring the state of readiness of the country’s armed forces....

Does Parliament have a potty-mouth problem? The Speaker of the House of Commons took MPs to task this week for their behaviour, amid accusations of a dramatic increase in the use of bad language in the Chamber. But is it really that fruity? And if he’s so concerned, isn’t it time the Speaker started to eject some MPs from the Chamber? The Government has struck a deal with the Democratic Unionist P...

The Conservatives are on course for a shattering defeat and need to replace their leader again, says Sir Simon Clarke MP. We discuss the latest in the Conservative Party soap opera and what it means for parliamentary business ahead. Peers have voted not to ratify the UK-Rwanda treaty. At least they got a choice. The Commons Home Affairs Committee wants MPs to have a similar debate and vote, but th...

The Rwanda Bill is through the Commons. Rishi Sunak has faced down his internal critics and diffused a backbench rebellion. The Bill now heads off to the House of Lords: What mayhem awaits it? This week’s air strikes against Houthi camps in Yemen to protect Red Sea shipping also prompted debate about the role Parliament should play when the Government deploys military force. Dr James Strong joins...

The Post Office Horizon scandal is the largest miscarriage of justice in British history. James Arbuthnot is one of the ‘heroes’ at the heart of the drama unveiled in ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office . A Conservative MP and now a Peer in the House of Lords, he championed the plight of his constituents for over a decade, leading a parliamentary campaign to investigate malpractice at the Post Offic...

What should be on your radar when Parliament returns on 8 January 2024? Exploring the year ahead in Parliament, we discuss how the uncertainty about the date of the general election may affect scrutiny of the new laws proposed by the Government. Once the Prime Minister has decided on the date and asks the King to dissolve Parliament, some of these new laws may get pushed through Parliament in supe...

A core purpose of Parliament is to make the laws that govern us all. But how are our laws made at Westminster? We have received several questions from listeners about how the process works and what the interplay is between the two Houses: Commons and Lords. So, in this special explainer we discuss the process from beginning to end: from when the Government first presents a Bill to Parliament to th...

Legendary political journalist Michael Crick joins us in the studio, to discuss the progress each party is making in selecting their candidates with the general election now less than a year away. Michael has been tracking candidate selections and reporting the results each week via his @TomorrowsMPs Twitter account. He explains how he is ‘lifting the secrecy on politics in the raw’ for what have...

Members of Parliament do not have a job description. So, what exactly is their role? How do they balance constituency and parliamentary responsibilities? How do they manage ministerial and party work? At some point in the next 12 months we will have a general election. Within days, a large cohort of newly-elected MPs will arrive at the Palace of Westminster. How can they prosper and flourish in th...

The crumbling state of the Palace of Westminster is a living metaphor for the wider constitutional decay that has taken hold in the UK, as the quality of our governance has nosedived in recent years. In this special interview, Lord Lisvane – crossbench Peer and former Clerk of the House of Commons – discusses his worries about the state of the constitution and explains why he thinks the House of C...

In this bonus edition of Parliament Matters, Mark and Ruth talk to Rob Hutton, columnist and sketchwriter for The Critic Magazine, about the way he practices one of Britain's oldest journalistic arts, sketching the proceedings of Parliament. 🔗 Read Rob Hutton's recent sketches on The Critic website here: thecritic.co.uk/author/robert-hutton 🎓 Access resources about issues mentioned in this episo...

Well, in the end, was it high drama or a bit of a damp squib? This was the week when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s fate was supposedly in the balance, as MPs on his own side decided whether they were going to back his Rwanda Bill. As it turned out, he won and won quite handily. But what happens now?  To discuss the events of the week, we were joined in the studio by Rob Hutton, parliamentary s...

If Parliament feared that their proceedings would be overshadowed this week by Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid inquiry, they need not have worried. MPs rose to the challenge. There was a high-profile ministerial resignation, Rishi Sunak suffered the first Commons defeat of his premiership, and Suella Braverman delivered a vengeful personal statement to the House. But what is actually g...

Welcome to this special feature of Parliament Matters, where we talk to Tony Grew – the Secretary of the Parliamentary Press Gallery – about PARLY , his journalism and social media project that shines a light on the proceedings of Parliament. If you tune-in to episode 6, you can listen to Tony and podcast co-hosts Ruth and Mark dissect the key parliamentary issues of the week and find out why Tony...

This week we are joined by Tony Grew, a doyen of the parliamentary press gallery, to discuss the growing fashion for re-writing Bills mid-air as they pass through Parliament. We debate a new report from the Lords Economic Affairs Committee about the democratic deficit surrounding the Bank of England and we look at the four new special inquiry committees Peers have chosen to set up for 2024. And we...

Following the Autumn Statement Mark and Ruth are joined this week by Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons. The Committee is the financial watchdog that has been going since the days of William Gladstone. As Parliament’s ‘Wastefinder General’, Dame Meg has got a list of ‘Big Nasties’: major public sector building projects that have been delayed due to...

What a week! Suella Braverman's sacking from Government was immediately eclipsed by the appointment of former Prime Minister David Cameron as the new Foreign Secretary. Mark and Ruth explore the many questions this raises, not least for scrutiny of foreign affairs by MPs - what options do they have to hold the newly ennobled Lord Cameron to account? And with huge ministerial churn across key depar...

Periodically we’ll have special ‘Urgent Question’ episodes to answer your questions about how Parliament works. In this episode we answer questions about whether Ministerial announcements to the media before they are made to MPs amounts to a contempt of Parliament, how parliamentary reform can be secured, and whether we really need a second Chamber. 🎓 Access resources about issues mentioned in th...