NEWS & EVENTS

Please find below a number of News & Event features, that may be of interest. This page is constantly changing, with new features being added on a regular basis. We look forward to receiving any comments, some of which will be published on the website. Simply fill in the comments box at the bottom of the page and press Submit.

House of Lords (Peerage Nominations) Bill [HL]

FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2022 

SECOND READING – MOVED BY LORD NORTON oF LOUTH

Lord Norton of Louth was in the House of Lords on Friday 18 November 2022, to move the Second Reading of his House of Lords (Peerage Nominations) Bill, which received widespread support.  The debate can be accessed at:

Second Reading Debate

The Second Reading also  attracted media interest: Lord Norton was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 ‘The Week in Westminster’ about it on Saturday 19 November 2022: 

Radio 4 ‘The Week in Westminster’

It has also attracted other media comment as, for example, in the Mail Online:

Mail Online

RESTORING PUBLIC TRUST IN PARLIAMENT

MONDAY 19 DECEMBER 2022

6.30-8.00pm, River Room, 

House of Lords

Parliament is suffering from a lack of public trust.  Polls in recent years have been fairly consistent in showing that only about a third of those questioned believe that Parliament is doing a good job and have confidence in MPs to act in the public interest. A poll found that only 12% of those questioned thought that the House of Lords does a good job.  The process of nominating peers has been widely lambasted. 

Parliament has difficulty in countering criticism.  It suffers from the fact that people often have difficulty distinguishing Government from Parliament.  If Government is unpopular, it affects attitudes towards Parliament.  People tend to assess Parliament not from how it performs as an institution, but from the behaviour of its members.  The focus is not committee work, but what individual members get up to.  Parliament lacks the means to move quickly to counter criticism.  Parliament comprises two discrete chambers, each with several leadership positions and each constituting the sum of its parts.  There is no one to speak authoritatively for Parliament.

What can Parliament do to enhance public trust?  Can behaviour and standards be improved?  What means, if any, can be created to ensure a clear and immediate institutional response when Parliament comes in for vilification in the media? 

To address what can be done to restore public trust in Parliament, the Centre for Legislative Studies is hosting a seminar on Monday, 12 September, from 6.30 to 8.00 p.m. in the River Room of the House of Lords, by kind permission of the Lord Speaker.  There will be a keynote address by Lord Evans of Weardale, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

The programme for the evening is:

6.30 p.m. Welcome

The Rt Hon Lord McFall

The Lord Speaker

6.35 p.m. Keynote address

Strengthening standards

The Lord Evans of Weardale KCB DL

Chair, Committee on Standards in Public Life

7.00 p.m. Panel

Strengthening institutional capacity

Andrew Griffin, consultant in crisis management

Mark D’Arcy, BBC Parliament

Professor Matthew Flinders, University of Sheffield

7.30 p.m. Questions and comments

8.00 p.m. Close

ONLINE BOOKING PROCESS

Seating in the River Room is limited and we only have 50 tickets available for this event. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. In order to book your ticket you will be required to complete our short registration form, detailed below, after which we will contact you via email.

We hope that you will be able to join us for what should prove a vitally important discussion, crucial to the health of our political system.

REGISTRATION FORM

Please complete our registration form in full and submit ASAP.

Please be aware that the completion of this form will not guarantee a ticket, we will email you upon receipt of the form.

Contact

Professor Philip Lord Norton of Louth
Email P.Norton@hull.ac.uk
Telephone +44 (0)1482 465863