This House of Lords Library briefing provides a list of movers and seconders of the humble address to the sovereign, following the sovereign’s speech at the State Opening of Parliament. The list provides information from 1979 to the first speech by King Charles III in 2023.
Prorogation is the mechanism by which parliamentary sessions are ended. This House of Lords Library briefing sets out the start and end dates of each parliamentary session since 1900, together with the number of calendar days between the end of the previous session and the start of the new one.
The Northern Ireland Budget (No. 2) Bill is a government bill that would authorise government departments and certain other bodies in Northern Ireland to incur expenditure and use resources for the financial year ending 31 March 2024. The House of Commons has passed the bill and the Speaker has certified the bill as a money bill. In practice this limits the extent to which the House of Lords can propose significant changes.
Research Briefing
Hereditary peer by-elections are held within the House of Lords to replace excepted hereditary peers who have retired or died. This Lords Library briefing provides a list of hereditary peers’ by-election results since the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, including information on turn out and the number of candidates.
Research Briefing
The Non-Domestic Rating Bill is a government bill that would make changes to business rates. It would reduce the time between property revaluations, impose a duty on businesses to notify the Valuation Office Agency of changes that could affect a property’s rateable value, and introduce rates reliefs for improvements to property and heat networks. It was introduced in the House of Commons on 29 March 2023 and its second reading in the House of Lords is scheduled to take place on 19 June 2023.
Research Briefing
The Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees Bill is intended to widen the statutory functions of the committees to better represent how they have operated in recent years. The bill passed all of its Commons stages unamended with cross-party support.
Research Briefing
The Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill is a government bill that was introduced in the House of Commons. The bill is being fast-tracked and completed all of its stages in the House of Commons on 10 May 2023 without amendment. It is scheduled to have its second reading on the 18 May 2023 with its remaining stages taking place on 23 May 2023.
Research Briefing
The Illegal Migration Bill seeks to fulfil the commitments made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on 4 January 2023 to “stop the boats and tackle the unfairness of illegal migration”. Provisions in the Illegal Migration Bill would introduce a duty on the home secretary to remove all adults entering the UK illegally (as defined in clause 2) after 7 March 2023. It would also introduce powers to detain those individuals prior to removal. The bill provides the secretary of state with greater powers to decide the place and duration of an individual’s detention. In addition to the duty to remove adults, the bill contains a power to remove those under 18 years of age; this would become a duty upon the child reaching 18. It would disapply aspects of modern slavery protections and provide that asylum and human rights claims by those subject to clause 2 were inadmissible. Immigration is a reserved matter, most of the bill’s provisions would apply in all four parts of the UK.
Research Briefing
The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Organ and Tissue Donation) Bill would extend the deadline for forming a Northern Ireland executive to 18 January 2024. It would also allow the secretary of state to set an Assembly election date earlier than this if no executive had been formed. It would also allow regulations to be made about the rule for organ donation in Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning Assembly.
Research Briefing
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 6 February 2023. The bill would automatically revoke, or ‘sunset’, most retained EU law at the end of 2023. However it would also give ministers powers to exempt some retained EU law from the sunset and to restate, reproduce, replace or update retained EU law by statutory instrument.
Research Briefing
The Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Bill is a short private member's bill which would change the inflationary measure used during annual pitch fee reviews for mobile homes from the retail prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI). CPI is generally lower than RPI, which proponents of the bill say will provide a cost saving to mobile home owners. The bill is sponsored by Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative). It completed its passage in the House of Commons with no amendment or debate. The bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 21 November 2022 and is scheduled to have its second reading on 3 February 2022. Housing policy is a devolved matter. The bill extends to England and Wales but would only apply to England. It would come into force two months after royal assent.
In Focus
One of the tasks of the House of Lords Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Sub-Committee is to scrutinise EU legislative proposals that may affect Northern Ireland because of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The House of Lords is due to debate a report from the committee that summarises the first year of its work on this issue and the government’s commitment to facilitating this parliamentary scrutiny.
Research Briefing
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill would give effect to aspects of the government’s levelling up agenda to reduce economic, social and environmental disparities between and within different parts of the UK. It would provide for the government to set statutory levelling up missions amongst other measures, including significant proposals concerning planning in England. A number of clauses were added to the bill during the bill’s passage through the House of Commons.
In Focus
In January 2022, the House of Lords Constitution Committee published a report calling for the UK government to set out a “clearer vision” for the future of the UK’s union. Although it welcomed the government’s commitment to the union, it argued that a more modern style of governance was needed, and that it was “imperative” that all executives and legislatures worked “constructively and in partnership”. The government has welcomed the report and said it would consider several of its recommendations.
In Focus
In 2003, Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth following a suspension for human rights violations. In 2018, the country began the process of rejoining the organisation. This process is ongoing. However, it has been argued that Zimbabwe should not be allowed to rejoin as it does not meet the required standards in respect of its human rights record, democratic processes and institutions and rule of law.
Total results (page 1 of 33)