Speaker tells the House the Queen has signified Royal Assent to the private international law act 2020 and the parliamentary constituencies act 2020
Parliamentary constituencies act came into force at Royal Assent. The number of MPs is fixed at 650. The 2018 Review, which would have reduced the number of MPs to 600, will not be implemented.
Dec 11, 2019 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Living in a safe seat? Worried your vote might not count? Let’s talk about Short money. That’s funding allocated to opposition parties to assist them in holding the government to account. It’s calculated from seats won AND for every 200 votes gained by the party. #GE2109
It’s quite a lot of money. The amount payable to qualifying parties in 2018/19 was £17,673.65 for every seat won at the last election plus £35.30 for every 200 votes gained by the party. researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefi…
Nov 1, 2019 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Sir Henry Bellingham has withdrawn from the Speaker race. As it stands there are now eight candidates.
All candidates will have to put in a valid nomination by 10:30am on Monday to be eligible to stand for Speaker.
Aug 28, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
BBC reports the Queen’s Speech will be on October 14th. Parliament to be prorogued after two week sitting in September.
Prorogation brings to an end nearly all parliamentary business. Public Bills may be carried over from one session to the next, subject to agreement
Jun 21, 2019 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
The recall petition in Brecon and Radnorshire has reached 10% . The seat has been vacated and there will be a by-election.
This is the third time the recall process has been initiated and the second time an MP has been removed by voters.
Former MP Chris Davies is eligible to stand in the by-election either as the Conservative candidate or as an independent.
Jan 28, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
For the first time MPs are now able to have a proxy vote if they are on maternity, paternity and adoption leave. The House approved these temporary standing orders without a division.
*There were proxy votes in the medieval parliament and in the Lords until 1868
Dec 1, 2018 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
The Commons will vote on 11th December on the PM’s withdrawal agreement and future relationship framework.
After that, House is due to sit on the 12th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th - six sitting days until Christmas recess.
The Commons returns on 7th January.
According to @commonslibrary if the PM’s Brexit motion is voted down, the government is required to make a statement about it’s intentions within 21 days.
There will only be six sitting days left to do that. January will be too late.
Jan 15, 2018 • 19 tweets • 3 min read
The resignation of Barry McElduff means there will be a by-election in West Tyrone constituency. How does an MP resign and what happens next?
The first thing to note is that MPs can’t resign. A 1624 resolution prohibits MPs from doing so because “a man, after he is duty chosen, cannot relinquish”.
