Parliament Matters

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 this episode via our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/news/parliament-matters-podcast-e3
• ❓ Submit your questions to us on all things Parliament using the form on our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/pm#qs
• 📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety
• ✅ Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates related to the Parliament Matters podcast and the wider work of the Hansard Society: hansardsociety.org.uk/nl
• 🪙 Support the Hansard Society by making a donation. We don't have a wealthy founder or an endowment. That's why donations are so important – they help to support our work AND our independence: hansardsociety.org.uk/donate

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Produced by Luke Boga Mitchell, Hansard Society

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Four new Chairs of Select Committees have been elected but how much can they achieve in what is likely to be the final parliamentary Session before the General Election?

30 MPs have lost the Whip in this Parliament and a recall petition has just opened in the constituency of Wellingborough after former Conservative MP Peter Bone was excluded from Parliament for six weeks. So, Mark and Ruth discuss how the recall system works, why the Standards Committee is looking at how this and other aspects of the regulation of MP’s conduct and standards could be improved, and why it’s so difficult to exclude MPs from Parliament after they are accused of very serious offences.

• 🎓 Access resources about issues mentioned in this episode via our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/news/parliament-matters-podcast-e2
• ❓ Submit your questions to us on all things Parliament using the form on our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/pm#qs
• 📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety
• ✅ Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates related to the Parliament Matters podcast and the wider work of the Hansard Society: hansardsociety.org.uk/nl
• 🪙 Support the Hansard Society by making a donation. We don't have a wealthy founder or an endowment. That's why donations are so important – they help to support our work AND our independence: hansardsociety.org.uk/donate

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Produced by Luke Boga Mitchell, Hansard Society

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Government sets out its legislative plans for the next Session, Ruth and Mark look at the political and parliamentary prospects for the proposals and discuss the latest on what’s happening with HS2 legislation.

They ask why Parliament has legislative Sessions that begin with State Opening and end with prorogation, and disagree over whether it’s time to abandon the pageantry!

Mark and Ruth are then off to the House of Lords to meet Professor the Lord Norton of Louth to discuss the subject of his new book, the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party, which has risen to prominence in recent years due to the number of Conservative Party leadership elections. The 1922 Committee was not founded in 1922 and it is not a Committee, so what is it? And is the selection of party leaders by the party membership really compatible with our system of parliamentary democracy?

• 🎓 Access resources about issues mentioned in this episode via our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/news/parliament-matters-podcast-e1#resources
• ❓ Submit your questions to us on all things Parliament using the form on our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/pm#qs
• 📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety
• ✅ Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates related to the Parliament Matters podcast and the wider work of the Hansard Society: hansardsociety.org.uk/nl
• 🪙 Support the Hansard Society by making a donation. We don't have a wealthy founder or an endowment. That's why donations are so important – they help to support our work AND our independence: hansardsociety.org.uk/donate

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Produced by Luke Boga Mitchell, Hansard Society

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Parliament Matters, the new weekly podcast from the Hansard Society about the institution at the heart of our democracy – Parliament. This introductory trailer will give you a preview of what you can expect every Friday after the first full episode lands on 10 November 2023, three days after the King's Speech.

Each week, Mark D'Arcy (the BBC’s former parliamentary correspondent) and Ruth Fox (the Director of the parliamentary think-tank the Hansard Society) will guide you through how laws are made and ministers held accountable by the people we send to Westminster. They will analyse the often mysterious ways our politicians do business and keep track of all the running controversies about the way Parliament works. Why? Because whether it's the taxes you pay, or the laws you've got to obey... Parliament matters!

• ❓ Mark and Ruth will also be answering your questions on all things Parliament, which you can submit using the form on our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/pm#qs
• 📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety and...
• ✅ Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates related to the Parliament Matters podcast and the wider work of the Hansard Society: hansardsociety.org.uk/nl.
• 🪙 Support the Hansard Society by making a donation. We don't have a wealthy founder or an endowment. That's why donations are so important – they help to support our work AND our independence. Donate here: hansardsociety.org.uk/donate

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Produced by Luke Boga Mitchell, Hansard Society

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.