Share this page!

Brigid Fowler Profile picture
Twitter logo
14 Mar, 7 tweets, 2 min read
Quick update thread on the status in Parliament of #LordFrost, as there have been developments this week & there'll be more tomorrow (Mon 15/3). #Brexit #NIProtocol 1/7
To recap: House of Lords rescinded Lord Frost's leave of absence, early, when he started his ministerial job on 1/3. There are Qs re: process (behind-the-scenes agreement not publicly-taken decision of whole House) but this allowed him to participate in HoL business, so: good. 2/
Since 1/3, Lord Frost has been answering, for the gov, relevant Qs in HoL as they've come up: on 4/1 on the space industry; & on 10/3 to a Private Notice Q (Lords' equivalent of an Urgent Q) on the Northern Ireland Protocol/Grace Period. 3/7
Q has been whether HoL would institute a dedicated question time for Lord Frost, given that he can't (currently) face one in the Commons. HoL did so previously for *Secretaries* of State sitting in the Lords, but Lord Frost is a *Minister* of State (+ full member of Cabinet). 4/7
HoL Procedure C'tee is now recommending a Lords Q time for all "departmental ministers sitting in the HoL who are full members of the Cabinet". On Mon (15/3) HoL will be asked to agree (& will surely do so). So Lord Frost will face his first dedicated Q time, in HoL, on 25/3. 5/7
Meanwhile, Thurs (11/3) new List of Ministerial Responsibilities confirmed:
- Lord Frost's official job spec
- Michael Gove officially loses last specific EU-related responsibility 12/4
- Penny Mordaunt & Julia Lopez assist Lord Frost in some (not all) of his responsibilities. 6/
So presumably Penny Mordaunt & Julia Lopez will answer EU-related Qs at next Cabinet Office Q time in HoC, on 25/3 - same day as Lord Frost has 1st Q time in HoL. So both Houses will go into Easter recess having experienced these new arrangements: will Commons be satisfied? /end

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Brigid Fowler

Brigid Fowler Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Brigid_Fowler

Brigid Fowler Profile picture
27 Feb 20
Ahead of publication of UK's objectives for its future relationship #negotiations with the EU, & of normal Thurs @HouseofCommons #BusinessQuestions this AM, a quick thread on some aspects of where we are on #Parliament side of things. 1/
1st, remember that, 'cos of way UK does treaties, gov is under no obligation to publish what it's publishing today. UK gov is under no obligation to tell Parl anything about treaties it's negotiating unless & until they need domestic implementing legislation +/or ratification. 2/
So, fact that gov is publishing a paper today, & doing so accompanied by both a written & oral statement to Parl, is good. It continues longstanding practice of UK gov publishing some kind of doc before start of negs with (pre-Brexit, the rest of) the EU. But... 3/
Read 10 tweets
Brigid Fowler Profile picture
19 Dec 19
Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg has told the HoC that the gov plans to get the Committee & all other Commons stages of the #WAB done in 3 days, 7-9 Jan. In other words, exactly the same no. of days as the previous House refused to do it in. 1/
Assuming the House gives the #WAB a 2nd Reading tomorrow, Fri 20/12, it will then be asked to approve a programme motion containing this 3-day timetable for Jan. (This, of course, is where the previous House said 'no' on 22 Oct.) 2/
On 8/1, HoC will also be asked to approve statutory motions under EU (Withdrawal) Act (arising 'cos of failure of 'meaningful vote' on 19/10) & EU (Withdrawal) No. 2 Act (which requires gov to make & HoC to approve a report on negs with the EU during A50 extension (!)) 3/
Read 5 tweets
Brigid Fowler Profile picture
26 Jun 19
If people are just seeing news re: Beckett/Grieve ams tabled to so-called '#estimates', we flagged this summer's estimates process in a recent piece - see below. (Short thread) 1/
The Beckett/Grieve ams are tabled to the motions to authorise the 2019-20 spending of depts whose estimates have been chosen by the Backbench Business C'tee for separate debate & vote (this yr, 4 depts - DFID, DoE, DWP, HCLG). Motions & ams are here: 2/ publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cm…
The Beckett/Grieve ams seek to make parliamentary authorisation for these 4 depts' 2019-20 spending conditional on either the UK leaving the EU only with a Withdrawal Agreement, or approval by the Commons of a motion giving explicit approval for a #nodeal Brexit. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Brigid Fowler Profile picture
11 Jun 19
People may be gathering that there's new anti-no-deal Brexitry afoot in the House of Commons tomorrow (Weds 12/6) so here's a quick thread re: what's going on in terms of HoC procedure in case it's useful. 1/
Tomorrow (Weds 12/6) in the HoC is a so-called Opposition Day. Normally, the government decides what the Commons will debate & vote on. On Opposition Days, an opposition party does. 2/
There have to be a certain no. of Opposition Days in each parliamentary session. The Official Opposition (currently, Labour) gets the vast majority of them, with some of the smaller opposition parties the rest. 3/
Read 10 tweets
Brigid Fowler Profile picture
3 Apr 19
In voting on the #CooperBill, HoC has just agreed without division to amend the EU (Withdrawal) Act so that a future Statutory Instrument to amend 'exit day' in UK law would be subject to the negative scrutiny procedure, rather than the affirmative procedure as under original Act
Essentially, *if* #CooperBill becomes law with this amendment intact, this means a minister will be able to change 'exit day' under the EU(W)A unless either House objects. Currently, under the original EU(W)A, a minister can change 'exit day' only with the approval of both Houses
'Exit day' was already changed last week under the previous procedure, when the SI was got thru' both Houses in 3 days. But it'll need to be changed again next week. Fact that both Cooper & gov wanted to switch procedure suggests both realise time might be even tighter next week.
Read 4 tweets
Brigid Fowler Profile picture
31 Mar 19
Haven't seen anyone on here run thru' the options on the Order Paper for HoC #indicativevotes tomorrow (Mon 1/4), so, for your info... (apologies if people have & I've missed it): There are 8 motions tabled for possible selection by Speaker: 1/
A) Baron, unilateral backstop exit; B) Baron, if no WA by then, no-deal Brexit on 12/4; C) Clarke, permanent UK-wide Customs Union as UK negotiating objective in primary legislation; 2/
D) Boles, support for #WithdrawalAgreement Bill conditional on it including, as UK future relationship negotiating mandate, a Political Declaration revised to include Common Market 2.0 (EEA+CU); 3/
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @Brigid_Fowler has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @Brigid_Fowler!

Read all threads by @Brigid_Fowler