By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Questions to Ministers of Justice were held in the Commons yesterday, the first real opportunity Members of Parliament have had to ask questions about the events of this summer. The key question came from Labour MP Stephen Pound, who asked "Could I ask him to give credit to the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. As Grant Shapps tweeted, the big topic in Westminster yesterday wasn't the Vickers report but the outcome of the boundaries review. Fifty seats will disappear in total in an effort to (1) save £12 million and (2) reduce the inequality in the populations represented by each MP to about […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Here is the list of those who went into the No lobby to oppose the Dorries/Field amendment. It included such senior Conservatives as George Osborne, Ken Clarke, Cheryl Gillan, William Hague, Eric Pickles, David Willetts, Sir George Young. NOES Abbott, Ms Diane Abrahams, Debbie Ainsworth, rh Mr Bob Alexander, […]
By Paul Goodman Nick Clegg's statement to the Commons on Lords reform – and Chris Huhne's on carbon emission reductions (that, at any rate, is what his statement was meant to be about) are covered in our newslinks today. The Justice Secretary is in the news for other reasons – his Department plans to halve […]
By Jonathan Isaby Yesterday Justice Secretary Ken Clarke presented his Green Paper on Criminal Justice, “Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders”. ConHome has already covered some of the announcements contained therein here and here, but here are some of the highlights of what Mr Clarke said in presenting the Green Paper […]
By Jonathan Isaby During Justice Questions yesterday, the issue of votes for prisoners was raised on the back of the recent judgment from the European Court of Human Rights. Tory MP David Ruffley proposed a radical solution for dealing with the problem: "The Hirst judgment says that article 3 of protocol 1 of the European […]
Lord Sugar's elevation to the Lords was always going to cause political opponents to scrutinise his every utterance with the finest of toothcombs. And after his recent disparaging remarks about small businessmen, the newly-ennobled entrepreneur was the subject of no fewer than four questions from Conservative MPs when ministers from the Department for Business, Innovation […]
Lord Mandelson is the most powerful Cabinet minister in a generation to sit in the House of Lords whilst holding a position usually held by an MP in recent decades. Furthermore, the Business Secretary has no fewer than three fellow peers in his ministerial team, meaning that peers in fact outnumber MPs in the Department […]