Category Archives: House of Lords

Lords rally to protect independence of UK’s Electoral Commission

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Boris Johnson’s government faces new defeat over what critics say is democratic meddling

Boris Johnson is facing another damaging parliamentary defeat on Monday over controversial plans that would give ministers new powers to determine the remit of the independent watchdog that oversees UK elections.

A cross-party group of peers is this weekend rallying behind an amendment to the elections bill that would strike out key clauses which, they believe, would seriously undermine the Electoral Commission’s independence and open the way for political interference in the conduct of elections.

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PMQs live: Boris Johnson refuses to apologise to archbishop of Canterbury after criticising his stance on Rwanda policy – as it happened

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Prime minister refuses to apologise for reported comments about archbishop and denies criticising BBC’s Ukraine coverage

Asked if the House of Lords Appointments Commission ever approves people for a peerage, only for a peerage not to be awarded, Bew says this has happened, but that it is very rare.

He also says that, under his chairmanship, the commission for the first time rejected a nominee who was subsequently appointed by Downing Street.

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Priti Patel’s immigration bill suffers multiple defeats in Lords

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Peers find fault with many aspects of nationality and borders bill, in particular proposal to divide refugees into classes

Priti Patel’s nationality and borders bill has been ripped apart for a second time by the House of Lords as the government suffered more than 10 defeats over controversial proposals to tighten immigration rules.

Peers supported proposals to ensure that the bill complied with the 1951 Refugee Convention and challenged the government’s plan to redefine refugees into two classes based on how they arrived in the UK.

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Britons living overseas for 15 years to get right to vote in UK elections

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Change to law, ending 20-year battle by 100-year-old Harry Shindler, passes critical stage in Lords

British nationals living overseas for more than 15 years are set to get the right to vote in UK general elections, after a proposed change in the law passed a critical stage in the House of Lords.

The move will end a 20-year battle by 100-year-old Harry Shindler who challenged the 15-year limit on voting rights in the high court in 2016 and in the European court of justice in 2018. It will also deliver on a promise made by the Conservative party in successive election manifestos.

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Evgeny Lebedev peerage: Labour seeks to force ministers to publish advice

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Angela Rayner to force binding vote on release of information, including on PM’s involvement in decision

The government could be forced to reveal private advice over the appointment of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords, amid evidence the security services had concerns about the peerage.

Labour will force a binding vote on releasing information about Boris Johnson’s involvement in the decision to award the peerage to the Evening Standard owner. Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, will demand the information concerning the appointment from the Cabinet Office.

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Chinese national trying to improperly influence politicians, says MI5

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Warning circulated to MPs and peers about woman targeting parliamentarians

A security warning from MI5 has been circulated to MPs and peers claiming that a female Chinese national has been seeking to improperly influence parliamentarians.

The “interference alert” names an individual “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party” with MI5’s logo at the top.

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Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly involved in PPE firm she referred to government

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Exclusive: Leaked files suggest Mone and her husband were involved in business given £200m contracts

Leaked files appear to suggest the Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, were secretly involved in a PPE business that was awarded more than £200m in government contracts after she referred it to the Cabinet Office.

Barrowman, an Isle of Man-based financier, may have played a central role in the business deal that enabled PPE Medpro to sell millions of masks and surgical gowns to the government at the start of the pandemic, documents suggest.

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Half of Tory ex-ministers take jobs in sectors relevant to former department

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More than 50 ministers under Johnson and May took posts with firms in sectors they covered in government

Half of all ministers who have left office in the Boris Johnson or Theresa May governments later took up posts with companies relevant to their former government jobs, the Guardian has found.

An analysis of those who left departmental ministerial roles up until the most recent reshuffle found more than 50 took up employment as advisers in industries where they had government expertise or as more general political consultants.

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Chinese ambassador to UK barred from British parliament

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Move agreed by Speakers of Commons and Lords follows imposition of sanctions on British MPs by Beijing

The new Chinese ambassador to the UK has been barred from parliament by the Speakers in the Commons and Lords after the imposition of sanctions on British MPs by Beijing.

The new ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, was due to attend a meeting of the broadly pro-Chinese all-party group on China, but after a letter from MPs who were subjected to sanctions by China, including the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has said the meeting is not appropriate.

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UK government threatens to suspend Northern Ireland protocol

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Brexit minister Lord Frost tells House of Lords that the European Commission must take renegotiation proposals seriously

The row over Brexit and Northern Ireland has escalated after the UK government issued a new warning to the EU that it will not shy away from unilaterally suspending the Northern Ireland protocol agreed by Boris Johnson last year.

Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, told the House of Lords on Monday night that the EU should take the UK’s proposals to renegotiate part of the protocol “seriously” if it wanted to avoid the protocol collapsing.

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Raab: Chinese sanctions will not stop UK ‘speaking up’ on abuse of Uighurs – video

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China has imposed sanctions on 10 UK organisations and individuals, including the former leader of the Conservative party Iain Duncan Smith, over what it called the spreading of 'lies and disinformation' about human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said the government stands 'in total solidarity' and  it will not stop it addressing 'industrial-scale human rights abuses'

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Threat of no-deal Brexit remains, peers say, as EU relations sour

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Exclusive: Lords committee chair highlights concern EU parliament may delay trade deal ratification

The Brexit deal signed in December has been thrown into jeopardy because of the recent breakdown of relations with the EU, an influential House of Lords committee is warning.

The European Union committee says “the threat of no deal remains”, with the European parliament now declining to set a date for its vote on the trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve.

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Brexit: parliamentary recess from Thursday hits hopes for deal approval

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Move seen as political theatre as talks in Brussels continue, but may not preclude recall of MPs and peers

MPs and peers will begin their Christmas break on Thursday evening, the government has announced, amid waning hopes that a Brexit deal will be struck in time to be approved in parliament next week.

With talks on trade and security continuing in Brussels amid signs of progress and compromise, ministers had considered stipulating that parliament should sit on Monday and Tuesday to allow legislation implementing a deal to be passed rapidly.

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Ministers face double defeat in Lords over China trading links

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Peers prepare to back cross-party move to block trade agreements with any country deemed to be committing genocide

Ministers face a double defeat in the Lords over Britain’s trading links with China as peers prepare to back a cross-party move to block trade agreements with any country deemed by the UK high court to be committing genocide.

The manoeuvre is in addition to Labour-led plans in the upper house to require a government human rights risk assessment before backing a Brexit trade deal.

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UK peer sparks outrage after calling Kamala Harris ‘the Indian’

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Lord Kilclooney is urged ‘retract and apologise’ after tweet about US vice-president-elect

A former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist party and member of the House of Lords has been called on to apologise after referring to the US vice-president-elect as “the Indian” in a tweet.

The Speaker of the Lords, Norman Fowler, was among those to demand John Kilclooney retract his remarks about Kamala Harris, who is the first black and Asian-American person to be elected to the role.

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UK coronavirus live: Covid testing shortage will take weeks to resolve, says Matt Hancock

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News updates: health secretary signals access to testing could be prioritised for those most in need; just 1% of deaths in England and Wales linked to Covid, ONS says

Almost nine in 10 pupils have attended schools in England since their full reopening this month, government figures show. Around 92% of state schools were fully open on Thursday September 10, and approximately 88% of students were back in class on the same day, the Department for Education analysis suggests.

There have been a further 110 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,681. Public Health Wales said no further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,597.

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Boris Johnson’s proposal for York parliament during restoration is rejected

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Repairs body says it will not review idea of temporary move as decision is for MPs and peers

Boris Johnson’s suggestion of moving parliament to York while a multibillion-pound restoration of the Palace of Westminster takes place will not be considered by a body reviewing the plans.

The prime minister had requested that a “possible location outside London” be looked at as a place for parliament to sit while the crumbling palace is revamped at an estimated cost of £4bn.

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Boris Johnson confirms plans for ‘government hub’ in York

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PM says city should be in frame if Commons or Lords have to move during restoration work

Boris Johnson has confirmed that Downing Street is thinking of setting up a “government hub” in York, telling officials drawing up restoration plans for the Palace of Westminster that they should consider the city if the Commons or Lords have to be moved.

Restoration of the parliamentary estate, which is crumbling in many places and viewed as a significant fire risk, could cost an estimated £6bn, and the plans are still being debated.

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Failure of Brexit talks could lead to terrorism intelligence delays, say Lords

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Real-time access to EU police databases has not yet been agreed in the negotiations

The UK risks losing its real-time access to a watchlist of suspected terrorists if it does not strike a comprehensive Brexit deal on justice and security, peers have been told.

The concerns of the policing consequences of a collapse in Brexit talks were raised by members of the Lords EU security and justice sub-committee during questioning of the Home Office minister James Brokenshire.

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Northern Ireland faces ‘potent threat’ from Brexit and Covid-19

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Lords committee warns uncertainty over trading rules may add to economic damage of crisis

Northern Ireland faces a “potent threat” to its prosperity and stability if reduced business confidence due to uncertainty over post-Brexit trading rules compounds the economic damage from coronavirus, a Lords committee has warned.

A fourth round of talks between the UK and EU over a permanent deal begins this week, with little apparent progress made, and the looming deadline of 1 July for the UK to seek an extension to the transition period beyond this year.

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