What's happening in Parliament next week?

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Union flags flutter near the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, 30 August 2022Image source, EPA

The unbelievably messy state of politics hangs over next week's parliamentary action.

There's a fairly chunky agenda for MPs and Peers to chew their way through.

But all that is secondary to the political and economic crises engulfing the prime minister, the new chancellor and the remnants of the financial package unveiled just three weeks ago.

As I write one of the big uncertainties is how the removal of Kwasi Kwarteng and the installation of Jeremy Hunt, will play out in Parliament.

Will the PM or the Chancellor come to the House on Monday to explain what they intend to do now?

If not, there will certainly be an urgent question to summon a minister to try and deliver that explanation. And will there be a resignation statement from Kwasi Kwarteng?

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Kwasi Kwarteng did not take any questions as he left Downing Street after being asked to resign, but will he speak in parliament this week?

In the past resignation statements from chancellors have been seismic political events - think Nigel Lawson or Norman Lamont - and after four chancellors in four months, there's a bit of a backlog of former chancellors who have not explained why they went.

So here's the agenda as we know it now. Even more than usual, it's subject to change at short notice.

Monday 17 October

Commons: At 14:30 Levelling Up Questions, starring new Secretary of State, Simon Clarke. Watch out for those government statements and Urgent Questions.

The it's Ten Minute Rule Bills. Former cabinet minister Chris Grayling wants banks and investment institutions to certify that they're not supporting deforestation.

The SNP's David Linden is also presenting a bill. His would require the government to report on the impact of abolishing the benefit cap.

All that happens is the title of the bill is read out; then the bill will join a long queue of measures unlikely ever to be debated.

That's followed by the promised legislation to cap the revenues of renewable energy generators and nuclear power plants. This is being rushed through all its stages of consideration.

There's an interesting-looking adjournment debate from the senior Conservative David Davis on Lawfare and investigative journalism - investigations around Kazakhstan, apparently.

Westminster Hall: at 16:30, MPs debate e-petition 619781, external, which attracted 575,000 signatures with its call for an immediate general election "to end the chaos of the current government."

Committees: The Lords Select Committee on the Children and Families Act  concludes its inquiry into how the law is working. Ministers Kelly Tolhurst, Dean Russel and Lord Bellamy will be interviewed from 15:15.

Lords: At 14:30 the main event is the rushing through of the Health and Social Care Levy (Repeal) Bill. Peers don't touch money bills, so this is pretty much a rubber-stamping exercise.

Tuesday 18 October

Commons: At 11:30 it's Justice Questions with new Secretary of State Brandon Lewis.

Ten Minute Rule Bill - Labour's Peter Dowd has a proposal to cut the maximum working week from 48 hours to 32.

Then the remaining stages of the Public Order Bill - which brings in new measures to control demonstrations.

There are all kinds of amendments in play - both big official opposition amendments and backbench amendments.

Labour backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy has attacked earlier measures as discriminatory. She wants public inquiries into the impact of policing of public order on Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, and into the policing of protests.

And there is a whole series of detailed amendments from the SNP's Joanna Cherry and Labour's Florence Eshalomi, emanating from the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The changes would implement JCHR recommendations on narrowing the scope of some of the offences proposed in the Bill

New Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns spearheads an amendment to extend the bill to cover farms and food production infrastructure

Next comes a motion to implement the Standards Committee report into the MPs' Code of Conduct and its appeals system. There are complaints that recommendations on paid lobbying are not also being considered.

Committees: Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, faces questions from the Defence Committee in its inquiry into the US, UK and NATO at 14:30.

New Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is before the NI Committee for the first time on the suspension of Stormont, the NI Protocol and cost of living support, also at 14.30

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee starts at 10:00 and questions the media minister, Julia Lopez, on future of local journalism including the future of the BBC's Local Democracy Reporter Service.

Lords : At 14:30 the main business is Report Stage consideration of the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill.

A vote is likely on a Labour amendment from Labour's Baroness Hayman, designed to ensure that senior managers who work for social landlords are properly trained and qualified. She will argue that the fire at Grenfell Tower showed what unprofessional management in social housing can lead to.

Wednesday 19 October

Commons: At 11:30 Wales questions, followed by Prime Minister's Question Time at Noon.

There's a Ten Minute Rule Bill. Alba's Kenny MacAskill wants to abolish higher standing charges for energy customers on pre-payment meters.

Labour Opposition Day Debate - you don't need to be Nostradamus to predict this will focus on the economy, although the exact line of attack probably won't be decided before Tuesday. It will be a very telling sign if the government decides to withdraw the time.

Committees: new Transport Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, debuts at the Transport Committee at 9:30. Likely subjects include progress on the Transport Bill, Northern Powerhouse Rail; and legal curbs on future industrial action.

The Treasury Committee from 15:00 hears from Sir Jon Cunliffe, who's in charge of financial stability at the Bank of England. They'll doubtless want to talk about the Bank's purchase of £65bn in UK government bonds, to shore up the markets.

Lords: From 15:00 there's a brief Third Reading rubber-stamping of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill and then peers have the Second Reading of the Energy Prices Bill, hot from the Commons. It's not a money bill, so it is open to peers to amend it, and much will depend on what transpires during its Commons consideration.

There's also a regret motion from the Crossbencher, Lord Hylton, on changes in Immigration Rules - his complaint is that the new rules make distinctions based on how refugees arrive in the UK.

Thursday 20 October

Commons: (09:30) Culture Media and Sport Questions, with new Secretary of State Michelle Donelan, followed by a mini-question time for the Attorney General, Michael Ellis, and the weekly Commons business statement, from the Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt.

Then it's Backbench debates on NHS dentistry and on Investing in the future of Motor Neurone Disease

Committees: Public Accounts at 10:00 questions senior officials at HMRC on their annual accounts, "qualified" by the National Audit Office this year due to "material levels of error and fraud in the COVID-19 support schemes, Personal Tax Credits expenditure and Corporation Tax reliefs". Bring popcorn.

Lords: From 11:00 the main business is two backbench debates: on the government's strategy on violent crime, gang activity and burglaries, and on the impact of the cost of living on public wellbeing

Friday 21 October

Commons: From 09:30 it's the long-delayed second Private Members Bill Friday - time devoted to laws proposed by individual MPs.

There are 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, followed by the Carers' Leave Bill from the 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, the Lib Dem Wera Hobhouse's Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill. Still less on whether any of the long list of other bills on the Order Paper will get any debate.

Lords: Not sitting.