What's happening in Parliament this week?
- Published
There's a lot of hard law-making to go as Parliament enters the glide path to the new Queen's Speech, which the government has now confirmed will be on 10 May.
Before then, the Commons and the Lords have to agree the final form of mega-bills, like the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Health and Care Bill, and the Nationality and Borders Bill - all extensively rewritten by peers.
Those bills are now bouncing back and forth between the two Houses of Parliament, as the government deploys its Commons majority to remove those changes made in the Lords.
On some of the most contentious issues, like the measures to ban noisy protests in the Police Bill, this "parliamentary ping-pong" may go on for quite a while.
And it's not impossible there could be a bit of coordinated rebelling in both houses, as a group of Commons dissidents - led by former Lord Chancellor Sir Robert Buckland - seek to leverage the process to give asylum seekers the right to work if their cases are not determined within six months.
They have encouraged peers to send the issue back to the Commons again, and (in behind the scenes talks) face ministers with the prospect of losing a vote, unless they make significant concessions.
If all goes according to plan, there will be barely a surface ripple to betray what's going on. But it's also possible ministers might seek to call their bluff - not least because immigration control is such a key issue for the Conservatives in the "Red Wall" ex-Labour seats.
Prorogation
Certainly, the forward agendas for both Commons and Lords are littered with debating slots earmarked for consideration of amendments from the other lot.
And the target date for the prorogation - or suspension - of Parliament, with its Python-esque ceremony of Norman French incantations, seems to be 27 or 28 April.
But there's a further battle to be had.
Peers are about to embark on the Report Stage consideration of the Elections Bill (they begin on 6 April).
This is the point at which they press amendments to a vote, and opposition parties have found plenty to dislike in the government's proposals on voter ID and, in particular, party funding.
The sabre-rattling is strikingly loud, with suggestions they will not be weeping bitter salt tears if the Bill isn't agreed by the time the music stops and Parliament is prorogued.
If that happened, the Bill would fall, and the government would have to re-introduce it in the new session.
Ministers will not be amused. But nor will they be keen to be forced into compromises to get it through. So watch out for some end of term brinkpersonship.
The Elections Bill is sure to cause some controversy next week
In the meantime, there's the opportunity for some new issues to debut.
Look out for a big government statement on future energy policy - something given increased urgency by the invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.
With issues like fracking, new nuclear power and net zero in play, this could prove pretty controversial, in several different directions. (It is worth noting that there are now organised groups of net zero sceptics and net zero supporters on the Tory benches - so this could get lively).
And another new - and probably rather long-running - parliamentary saga is about to begin.
The other side of their Easter break, MPs will have their first debate on the Online Safety Bill - the ground-breaking mega-bill to regulate the internet.
It's been scrutinised in draft, and extensively honed by a joint committee of MPs and peers, as well as being put under the microscope by the DCMS select committee.
But what it's attempting is so new, and so controversial, that there will doubtless be plenty more turbulence ahead.
Quizzing the PM
Up on the Committee Corridor, there's plenty of significant action, with Treasury examining the chancellor's Spring Statement after its bruising reception the previous week.
And this could well feed into Boris Johnson's Liaison Committee appearance on Wednesday - although there's plenty more for them to quiz the prime minister about.
I suspect the Commons will begin to empty after Wednesday's edition of Prime Minister's Questions, and any ping-pong votes on the Health and Care Bill, with MPs due to return to Westminster after Easter on Tuesday 19 April.
Peers continue to sit for a week after MPs, but compensate by returning from their Easter Break a week later.
The ensuing weeks will be a tidying-up, finishing off exercise, with the view to proroguing Parliament in late April.
And a new parliamentary cycle, with lots of new legislation, will begin with the state opening on 10 May.