What's happening in Parliament next week?
- Published
There's going to be a whole lot of ping-pong going on in Parliament in the next few weeks.
The process of getting agreement between the two houses of Parliament on new laws is an exotic-sounding exercise, which involves bills bouncing between them until the final wording on critical details is agreed.
It may be hard for outside observers to follow - particularly because much of the real action is in behind-the-scenes talks between the parties - but it matters a lot.
This week's ping-pong involves the Retained EU Law Bill and the Strikes Bill, but there will be plenty more to come, when peers grind their way through some of the biggest draft laws before them, including the Illegal Migration Bill, the Levelling Up Bill, and the Online Safety Bill.
MPs are invited to accept or reject changes made in the Lords - sometimes rejection can be a flat "no".
Sometimes, the government majority in the Commons offers an "amendment in lieu" - a compromise proposal.
Peers then decide whether to take rejection of their amendments on the chin, accepting the will of the elected Commons, or to offer an alternative, usually watered down, version of their original change.
There's no limit to how long this can go on; it tends to go to a couple of rounds, but where positions are entrenched, ping-pong can grind on for quite a while.
Grizzled veterans of the Commons still shudder at the memory of the seven rounds of ping-pong over the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act - and there is no doubt that on the Strikes Bill, the Illegal Migration Bill and on retained EU law, positions are very entrenched. So this week's ping pong may just be Act One.
It's been an odd little on-off interlude in Parliament, with MPs and peers breaking for Easter, then the Coronation, and, at the end of the coming week, for their Whitsun Recess.
They then have a decent run of unbroken legislating, with eight weeks from their return on 5 June to the start of the Summer Recess at the close of business on 26 July.
Monday 22 May
Commons: (14:30 BST) Home Office Questions, with any urgent questions or government statements (a report-back on the G7 Summit by the prime minister?) following at 15:30.
Main debate: Committee of the Whole House on the Non-Domestic Rating Bill. This introduces more frequent valuations for business rates - every three years rather than every five - and creates a new business rates improvement relief.
That's followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill.
The government will be seeking to overturn four defeats in the Lords: on limiting the application of the bill to England only; on removing protections from unions that fail to take reasonable steps to ensure their members comply with work notices (peers took that bit out); on making failure to comply with a work notice a breach of contract and grounds for dismissal, and on requiring consultation before the government can specify minimum service levels to be maintained during industrial action.
Expect all of these to be bounced back to the Lords.
The bill will set minimum service levels during strikes for the transport sector, among others
Westminster Hall: (16:30) MPs debate two e-petitions on the cost of living for people with disabilities. The first calls for an energy grant to people with a disability or serious medical condition, on the argument that there are millions of people whose condition means they use a lot of energy, for example to power ventilators, wheelchairs, stair lifts or bath seats. The second argues that disabled people should be included alongside carers in the £650 one-off payment as part of the Cost of Living support package.
Lords: (14:30) A brief Third Reading rubber stamping of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (expect the Lords amendments limiting the government's powers to revoke inherited EU law to be reversed in the Commons on Wednesday). Then peers resume their long march through the detail of the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill, with day 14 of its marathon Committee Stage.
Tuesday 23 May
Commons: (11:30) Energy Security and Net Zero Questions.
Ten-Minute Rule Bill: Conservative MP Anna Firth wants to require people in charge of dogs to take all reasonable steps to ensure that their dog doesn't fatally injure another dog.
Main Debate: A Labour Opposition Day motion or motions, to be announced.
Westminster Hall: Former minister Kevin Foster has a debate on short-term holiday lets and the planning system (09:30).
Committees: Health (10:00) quizzes minister Maria Caulfield on declining vaccination uptake. Treasury (10.15) has one of its regular sessions with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, where they will examine the latest interest rate increase.
Business and Trade (10:30) hear from representatives of the UK's car and electric vehicle battery manufacturing sector. Foreign Affairs (14:30) hears evidence of the possibility of war crime charges relating to the Ukraine war from Andriy Kostin, the country's prosecutor-general.
Lords: (14:30) Peers complete their consideration of the Northern Ireland (Interim Arrangements) Bill, the latest measure to fill the gaps left by the lack of devolved government there. Then it's back to the detail of the Online Safety Bill - with the eighth of 10 Committee Stage days.
Wednesday 24 May
Commons: (11:30) Wales Questions, followed at noon by Prime Minister's Question Time.
Ten-Minute Rule Bill: Conservative Gareth Johnson wants courts to be able to ban disruptive passengers from flying.
Main Debate: Consideration of Lords amendments to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill - the law to reprocess or revoke laws inherited from the UK's 40 year membership. The government will be seeking to reverse four Lords defeats: two involved the creation of a committee of MPs and peers to refer major changes for debate; another is about allowing Parliament and the devolved legislatures to prevent the automatic revocation of retained EU rights, powers and liabilities and to require that environmental protections and food standards must not be reduced.
The Commons would normally deal with Lords amendments at quite a brisk pace - suggesting there may be room for some late addition to the agenda.
Westminster Hall: Labour MP Fleur Anderson, whose Putney constituency is directly under the flightpath, leads a debate on the future of Heathrow Airport (16:30).
Committees: Science, Innovation and Technology (09:30) look at the Metropolitan Police's use of live facial recognition technology, during the Coronation, and potential future AI-based tools. Transport (09:30) questions Rail Minister Huw Merriman on how the Strikes Bill applies to rail services. Human Rights (15:00) holds a one-off session on the legal status of assisted dying in the UK and elsewhere, and how the human rights legal framework applies.
Lords: (15:00) Another day, another bill facing a long committee stage. This time it's the Illegal Migration Bill and this is day one of five.
Thursday 25 May
Commons: (09:30) Environment Food and Rural Affair Questions, and Questions to the Attorney General, followed by the weekly update on the forthcoming Commons agenda from the Leader of the House.
Main Debate: Backbench debate on recognition of the 1930s Great Famine in Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, when millions of Ukrainians died during the forced collectivisation of farms by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. That's followed by a general debate on tackling Islamophobia.
Committees: Public Accounts (09:30) questions the main players in the administration and eventual acquisition by Octopus Energy of Bulb Energy - the largest of the many UK energy supplier collapses as the energy crisis took hold in 2021, with the taxpayer and bill payers on the hook for the £3 billion costs of the process.
Lords: (11:00) Online Safety Bill - day nine of committee stage.
Neither House sits on Friday 26 May - and with Parliament taking its Whitsun Recess, MPs and peers will not return until Monday 5 June.
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- Published16 May 2023
