Posts Tagged “Parliament”
“Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) rose. Hon. Members: Oh, no.” Yes, folks: this is our Parliament.
by Stephen Tall on June 13, 2013
There are few more popular Lib Dem MPs — among the ranks of party members — than Cambridge MP Julian Huppert. It’s not hard to see why. He stands up for civil liberties, and as a scientist (indeed, the only MP with a science PhD in the House of Commons) he is keen on evidence [...]
Same sex marriage bill: how peers voted by party
by Stephen Tall on June 5, 2013
We reported last night the historic decision of the House of Lords to approve the second reading of the Same Sex Marriage Bill by a hefty majority. 73 Lib Dem peers voted against Lord Dear’s wrecking amendment. And if you were wondering about the breakdown across the parties — how many of each voted for [...]
Paddy Ashdown pays tribute to Margaret Thatcher (and shows Nick how it’s done)
by Stephen Tall on April 10, 2013
MPs in the Commons and peers in the Lords have been queuing up this afternoon to record their tributes to Margaret Thatcher, including both Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown. To read both their tributes, please scroll down the page. Nick’s come in for some stick on Twitter, mostly from right-wing MPs/journalists, for instance Mark Reckless [...]
Government pauses on web regulation to ponder question, “What is a small-scale blog?”
by Stephen Tall on March 26, 2013
A follow-up to my weekend post, Bloggers unite to oppose “botched late-night drafting” that proposes new press/web regulation, highlighting the concerns of many — including the Hacked Off campaign group — that politicians’ hasty law-making had resulted in legislative over-reach. In the House of Lords last night, the Government accepted an amendment that will exclude [...]
7 ‘rebel’ Lib Dem MPs back party policy as rest vote for secret courts
by Stephen Tall on March 5, 2013
After the excitement of Friday’s Eastleigh by-election result, it’s back to earth with a bump for Lib Dems, after most of our MPs last night ignored the party conference’s overwhelming opposition to ‘secret courts’ and voted into law a measure that flies in the face of natural justice. Here’s the BBC report: MPs have voted [...]
Equal marriage: who voted which way
by Stephen Tall on February 6, 2013
For those wanting to know the voting breakdown of last night’s historic decision in the Commons to approve equal marriage, here it is courtesy of Andrew Sparrow’s essential Guardian live-blog… Conservatives FOR – 127 MPs (42%) AGAINST – 136 MPs (45%) ABSTENTIONS – 5 MPs (2%) ABSENT – 35 MPs (12%) Labour FOR – 217 [...]
Lib Dem peers help inflict defeats on Government in Lords over secret courts plans
by Stephen Tall on November 21, 2012
On Sunday we reported that Lib Dem members were none-too-impressed with the Government’s plans for secret courts. This morning we reported that 172 Lib Dems had written to The Times to protest. This evening the Lib Dem battle found its voice in the House of Lords, as the Guardian reports: Government proposals to expand secret [...]
Lib Dems should back a judge-led inquiry into financial scandal
by Stephen Tall on July 4, 2012
I get why the Tories are opposed to a judge-led inquiry into the scandalous rate-rigging practices employed by Barclays and other banks: their experiences of the Leveson Inquiry show how scandals, even ones that blend across the red/blue parties, have a habit of rebounding on the government of the day. I get why Labour are [...]
