After four rounds of voting, Lindsay Hoyle was elected as Speaker of the House yesterday (04/11/19) with 325 votes. Having has served as Deputy Speaker since 2010, he had been the favourite to win the role. Chris Bryant came a distant second with 213 votes in the final round. Hoyle made an emphasis on neutrality […]
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Voters have been warned to “beware” of politicians using the NHS as “a political weapon” by a top health service boss. Chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson writes in his blog: “Frontline NHS leaders are worried that it is already starting to happen in this campaign.” NHS Providers has an £84bn annual budget and […]
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Jeremy Corbyn has kicked off Labour’s general election bid promising the “most ambitious and radical campaign the country has ever seen.” “Real change is coming,” the Labour leader told party activists gathered at London’s Battersea Arts Centre, repeatedly asking them: “Whose side are you on?” Corbyn said this is “a once in a generation opportunity” […]
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Boris Johnson’s proposed election on the 12 December failed yesterday to gain sufficient support from MPs. The motion attracted 299 votes in favour with 70 against, and thus did not secure the two-thirds majority of the house (434 votes) required under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. While all Conservative MPs voted for the motion, it only […]
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The European Union has given the UK a three month Brexit “flextension” until January 31 in order to try and get a deal through parliament. The extension comes as MPs prepare to vote today on whether to back the prime minister’s plans for a general election before Christmas. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council […]
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The bodies of 39 people found in a lorry in Essex was described as “an evil contempt for human life” at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons today. MPs were united in paying tribute to the emergency workers dealing with the gruesome discovery but clashed again over Brexit and the timetable for debating the government’s […]
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Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has blocked MPs voting on the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal, ruling “it would be repetitive and disorderly to do so.” The government had sought a “yes” or “no” vote on Boris Johnson’s new deal but Bercow said doing so would break long standing parliamentary conventions given MPs […]
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Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through London on Saturday demanding a People’s Vote on Brexit while inside the House of Commons, MPs delayed their decision once again. The Commons did not say “no” to the Prime Minister’s deal on so-called Super Saturday, instead it was effectively “not yet”, as they voted instead to pass […]
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Yesterday (14/10/19) saw the opening of a new session of parliament with a Queen’s Speech outlining the government’s agenda. Number 10 has emphasised the need for a Queen’s Speech by pointing to the extraordinary duration of the previous parliamentary session which, at 28 months, was the longest for nearly 400 years. Opposition parties, however, have […]
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The Queen’s Speech has been pilloried as “farcical” and an abuse of the monarchy to deliver a Tory manifesto ahead of a looming general election. Among the 26 bills and policies announced were tougher jail sentences and a controversial plan to force people to show photographic ID in order to be able to vote – […]
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