The week in Westminster: a half-term report

Free from her darkened room: Madeleine Moon caught the prime minister's attention with her tweet.

It is one of the unwritten rules of covering parliament that the week before any recess tends to be busier than most.

This week has confirmed the rule. Monday's lengthy House of Lords debate on the Trade Union Bill was enlivened by the leak of a letter from Skills Minister Nick Boles admitting that the UK government's legal advice on its continuing argument with the Welsh government was "very weak".

Labour peers didn't push their amendments to a vote but anyone reading the Boles letter would probably deduce that a ministerial climbdown is on the way, particularly on the "check-off" system under which employers deduct system union membership dues from union members' salaries and pass them to the unions.

Tweet: Madeleine Moon's view on Labour's defence changes

I spent most of Tuesday on the fall-out from Monday night's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting, and Madeleine Moon's "Oh dear, oh dear, omg, oh dear" tweet about Emily Thornberry's performance at the PLP. David Cameron found it so amusing he used it as ammunition during prime minister's questions on Wednesday.

The UK government's decision to review the Swansea tidal lagoon proposal made headlines on Wednesday too. Energy Minister Lord Bourne announced the review - less than two years after tweeting: "Very useful mtg on Swansea Tidal Lagoon. It will be good news for Swansea, Wales and UK - glimpse of cleaner, brighter future. #SwanseaLagoon".

MPs on the Welsh affairs committee took time off from examining the constitution to look at the crisis facing the steel industry. Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock made an assured committee debut, trying to find out why Business Secretary Sajid Javid seems keen to block higher tariffs on Chinese steel.

'Flurry'

There was barely time to take in the most unusual political story of the week - the potential pact between Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens for the National Assembly for Wales elections. According to ITV Wales the idea was instigated by Plaid Cymru, who have done deals with the Greens before with mixed results (won Ceredigion, beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party in Monmouth).

But amid the flurry of political activity this week, there has been an unusual silence on the draft Wales Bill. It is now two months since the Welsh affairs committee held its last public evidence session on the Bill but we have yet to see its report even though a draft version was completed weeks ago.

With the Wales Office insisting it is waiting for the committee's report before revealing its next move, the actual legislation appears unlikely to appear before the expected publication date in February.

MPs may be away from Westminster for half-term but politics goes on: the Brussels summit takes place on February 18 and 19 and its conclusions could dominate British politics for some time.

The prime minister is due to report back to MPs on Monday, February 23 and I'll be reporting back then too. Bye for now.