Parliament: More Revolts, More Reform

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 56, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 188-204+i

  Cowley, Philip ^a   Stuart, Mark ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 10744221568     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/parlij/gsg013     Document Type: Review

References (16)

1. P. Cowley and M. Stuart, 'Parliament: Mostly Continuity, But More Change Than You'd Think', Parliamentary Affairs, April 2002, p. 284. As always, the parliamentary and calendar years are not the same. The 2001-02 session ran from June 2001 to November 2002. This article discusses the events of the 2001-02 session that were not discussed in last year's volume.
2. The following text discusses eight of the nine issues. The ninth was a rebellion by 40 MPs, who opposed a government timetabling motion immediately before the debate over the membership of select committees in July 2001. The main votes were themselves free votes, and were discussed in Cowley and Stuart, loc. cit.
3. The government's motion enabled the Sinn Fein MPs to make an entry in the Register of Members' Interests, but they were not required to do so under the rules of the Commons, which stated that Members were obliged to make an entry only within three months of taking their seat (which the Sinn Fein MPs were not going to do). On 26 March 2002 the Commons agreed to make the code of conduct apply to Sinn Fein as well.
4. Cowley and Stuart, loc. cit., p. 272.
5. In a third major rebellion on the bill, 19 Labour backbenchers also supported an attempt to abolish selection by aptitude as introduced by the government in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
6. See R. Hazell et al, 'The Constitution: Rolling out the New Settlement', Parliamentary Affairs, April 2001, pp. 196-9.
7. Quentin Davies interview, Daily Telegraph, 18.12.01.
8. As, almost unnoticed, did the Liberal Democrats.
9. A total of 35 Conservatives were absent from the vote; many newspapers therefore talked of 35 abstentions, although it was in fact clear that many of these 35 were simply away from the Commons on other business.
10. For an example from the very same session, see the votes over Sinn Fein (above): the government issued a whip, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats allowed a free vote.
11. Marriage value is less exciting than it sounds: it is a fee exacted by a landlord from a freeholder on the termination of a lease (usually 99 years in duration). The fee is supposed to cover the depreciation of the landlord's asset (the house or flat), even though the leaseholder has been responsible for the upkeep of the property for the duration of the lease.
12. P. Cowley, Revolts and Rebellions: Parliamentary Voting Under Blair, Politico's, 2002, pp. 212-13.
13. P. Cowley and M. Stuart, 'Poodles No More', Liberator, 2002, p. 280.
14. P. Cowley, 'The Commons: Mr Blair's Lapdog?' in P. Norris (ed.), Britain Votes 2001, OUP, 2001.
15. For example, the YouGov survey found that only 23% of people thought that the Commons was effective at holding ministers to account for government policy. See www.YouGov.com.
16. Cowley and Stuart, 'Parliament', pp. 272-3.