Parliament

Welfare Bill: an abuse of privilege

6 February 2012 | Claudia Wood

The government has reversed its House of Lords defeats on the Welfare Reform Bill by reaching for an archaic convention on ‘financial privilege’. It’s a very dangerous precedent  Read more

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Pension deficit denial

30 June 2011 | Patrick Nolan

The issues raised by today’s public sector pension disputes require much more radical action than the government is proposing Read more

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First-past-the-post fallacies, by Colin Talbot

27 April 2011 | Colin Talbot

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Ditch the Universal Credit, by Patrick Nolan

31 January 2011 | Patrick Nolan

The coalition government plans to replace all existing working age benefits with a single Universal Credit. Last week the Work and Pensions Committee held an oral evidence session on this proposal. I was asked to appear before the committee and explain Reform’s concerns over these plans. Read more...

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By-election blues, by Colin Talbot

18 January 2011 | Colin Talbot

The Oldham and Saddleworth by-election is interesting for all sorts of reasons: the first since the general election; the first where two coalition parties have fought each other (or not); the first sitting MP to be expelled by an election court for lying about an opponent (and let’s hope that doesn’t catch on or we’ll have no MPs left); and so on. Read more...

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Health commissioning: take care, by Chris Ham

18 January 2011 | Chris Ham

Today the Health Select Committee added its weight to the concerns expressed about the government’s proposed structural reforms to the NHS. Read more...

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Localism Bill: devil’s in the draft, by Anna Turley

17 January 2011 | Anna Turley

The Localism Bill sees its second reading in the Commons today. This is the ‘big picture’ stage of the process; the chance for MPs to debate the main principles of a bill, leaving the nitty-gritty of debating each clause until the committee stage. Read more...

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Committee politics, coalition style, by Dan Corry

31 August 2010 | Dan Corry

So, thanks to the early birth of the new Cameron child, Nick Clegg looks set to stay in the government hot seat for a little while longer. He will be hoping that the young guns at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, having worked through August to show that the first Coalition Budget was not in fact progressive, now take a bit of a break. Read more...

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Fooled again? By Colin Talbot

14 May 2010 | Colin Talbot

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again Read more...

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Jury’s out on a hung Parliament, by Colin Copus

29 April 2010 | Colin Copus

With the polls continuing to show a three-horse race in the election, it’s worth considering whether a hung Parliament would be a good or a bad thing. Read more...

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