What's happening in Parliament next week?
- Published
Suddenly it's a new era... a new prime minister, a new Cabinet, a new programme to address the array of crises cramming the in-trays of Whitehall, and a new series of parliamentary duels.
Our new PM will take office on Tuesday, and begin making ministerial appointments as soon as they have kissed hands with Her Majesty - the traditional ceremony that marks a change at the top.
This will have a big impact on the cast of characters performing in Parliament.
Home Secretary Priti Patel will be taking questions on Monday, but then things get a little murky.
Who will be taking Foreign Office questions on Tuesday? The current Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, could well be kissing hands at Balmoral, where, in a break with tradition, the official ceremony will be taking place.
By Wednesday there may be a new Northern Ireland Secretary in place to take questions that day, and a new Environment Food and Rural Affairs Secretary to answer on Thursday - and their supporting casts of junior ministers will also have to be chosen by their new leader.
But the Rubik's Cube process of appointing the junior ranks can be rather lengthy, so there might be a few poignant moments as the outgoing ministers have to make a farewell appearance at the dispatch box before being axed.
And depending on those appointments, there could be big changes on the committee corridor, too.
There's already due to be a by-election to replace the Conservative chairman of the science technology committee, Greg Clark, who was made Levelling Up Secretary, after Boris Johnson sacked Michael Gove.
And it's entirely possible that a few more select committee chairs (I'm looking at you, Tom Tugendhat....) might become ministers, creating tempting openings for those ousted from government.
As the cast changes, so will the script.
The new government will have to act rapidly to deal with the cost of living crisis, and while the exact response is not yet clear, a "fiscal event" - a mini-budget of some kind - is expected before Parliament breaks on 22 September for the party conference season.
There could be a new finance bill and perhaps other new laws to put whatever response is chosen into action.
Had the Commons been sitting over the summer there would surely have been some pretty irate points of order raised about criticism of the Commons Privileges Committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson committed a contempt of Parliament over Partygate.
The suggestions that the committee members simply could not be trusted to be fair to Mr Johnson and that the inquiry (agreed by the Commons without dissent, remember) should now be cancelled, have raised some pretty senior hackles - so expect efforts to get Mr Speaker Hoyle to slap the critics down.
Monday 5 September
The Commons (14:30) opens with Home Office questions, after which expect a bumper helping of post-holiday urgent questions and government statements, perhaps running across several days.
The main legislative action will be the second reading debate on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which deals with personal data, international data transfers, and other issues.
The Lords resume (14:30) with the first of eight days of detailed committee consideration of the Energy Bill (this is the preliminary phase of the detailed debate, when votes are hardly every held) but keep an eye out for an urgent question (Private Notice Question in peer speak) on the prospect of a large wave of new peers being appointed in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list, despite concerns about the already bloated membership of the Upper House.
Tuesday 6 September
The Commons (11:30) starts with Foreign Office questions. The main business is the second reading debate on the Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill, which puts the latest post Brexit trade agreement into UK law. Actually, all that requires is some modest tweaks to government procurement rules, but expect Labour to have some fun with some of the venom about trade policy sprayed around during the Tory leadership race - especially Trade Secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan's comments about leadership contender Penny Mordaunt's performance as her junior minister.
The Digital Culture Media and Sport (10:00) will quiz BBC Director General Tim Davie on the BBC's business model in the modern media landscape, impartiality, and the future of the licence fee.
In the Lords (14:30) the main event is detailed Committee scrutiny of the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill.
Wednesday 7 September
The Commons opens (11:30) with Northern Ireland questions, but that is merely the warm-up to PMQs. This first encounter will be a very big deal, setting the tone for what promises to be a pretty eventful few months.
Former Cabinet minister Maria Miller has a Ten Minute Rule bill on regulating Lithium Ion battery storage - this is an increasingly popular energy management technology, but she is concerned that there have been a number of fires associated with it, in Britain and the US.
Then comes the second reading of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, a post-Brexit measure which aims to tailor financial services regulation to UK markets, maintain the UK's position as an open and global financial hub.
Select Committee action includes Treasury (10:00) quizzing the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and a supporting cast of officials, on the latest Monetary Policy Reports. With a sharp rise in inflation, and talk of reforming the Bank's mandate, the markets will be watching.
Elsewhere, Work and Pensions (09:30) hears evidence on children in poverty and the Child Maintenance Service, while Home Affairs (09:45) focusses on violence against women and girls, with witnesses including Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales and HM Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher.
In the Lords (15:00) there's more detailed debate on the Energy Bill.
Thursday 8 September
The Commons opens (09:30) with half an hour of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions.
Then MPs will zip through all stages of the Social Security (Special Rules for the End of Life) Bill, which updates the rules which fast-track disability benefits for people with a terminal illness. Medical advances mean that people with a terminal illness are now living longer, so this brings in a 12-month end-of-life approach.
In the Lords (11:00) there are backbench debates on the role of primary and community care in improving patient outcomes and on the impact of climate change and bio-diversity loss on food security.
Friday 9 September
In the Commons (09:30) it's the second Private Members Bill Friday - time devoted to laws proposed by individual MPs - with a couple more components of a kind of self-assembly employment bill being offered up, in the shape of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill from Labour's Dan Jarvis.
This will be followed by the Carers' Leave Bill from Lib Dem Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain. I'm not clear whether there will be time left for any debate on the third bill on the list, Lib Dem Wera Hobhouse's Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill.
The Lords (10:00) is also considering Private Members Bills.
There are second readings for the former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley's Government of Wales (Devolved Powers) Bill; the crossbench, or independent, peer Baroness Finlay of Llandaff's Ofcom (Duty Regarding Prevention of Serious Self-harm and Suicide) Bill; the Conservative constitutionalist Lord Norton of Louth's House of Lords (Peerage Nominations) Bill; the Coroners (Determination of Suicide) Bill [HL] from the Bishop of St Albans and the Women, Peace and Security Bill from the Conservative, Baroness Hodgson.