04 Mar 2020
Lost Passageway Found in British House of Parliament
Architecture, Britain, History, Parliament
Category Archive 'Parliament'
28 Aug 2019
“You Have Sat Too Long Here for Any Good You Have Been Doing. Depart, I Say, and Let Us Have Done With You. In the Name of God, Go!” –Oliver Cromwell
Boris Johnson, Brexit, Parliament, Queen Elizabeth II
Boris has blocked Parliamentary interference with Brexit by asking to Queen to prorogue Parliament. Smart move.
H.M. the Queen’s Order-in-Council prorouging Parliament.
Hale Collum explains:
Unlike a dissolution, which is governed by the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, proroguing Parliament is a Royal Prerogative power exercisable by the Queen, (who, by convention, follows the PM’s advice). This doesn’t require the consent of the Members.
This effectively makes “Brexit” unstoppable. As David Jaroslav explains:
“Parliament is scheduled to return from recess on September 9. Now they will be prorogued from the . . .12th until two weeks before the exit date set in the Withdrawal Act. This formally ends the parliamentary session so all pending business dies unless there is a vote in the old session to carry it over to the new session. On October 14th there will be a new Queen’s Speech opening a new session and little to no parliamentary time for the Remainers to play games.
“Even if no confidence were tabled AND voted on the first day of the session (highly unlikely), the 14-day period for a new government to receive the confidence of the House would end right around the exit date, during which the current government would remain in office. If no confidence passed and no new government formed, there would then have to be a general election, but it wouldn’t happen until after Brexit, and again the old government would remain in office until the election concluded.”
13 May 2017
British Parliament Debates for 28 Minutes on the Hedgehog
Britain, Hedgehog, Parliament
First such debate since 1566.
Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con):
An article in The Guardian in July 2013 pointed out that hedgehogs are prickly in character, have a voracious appetite and a passion for gardens, and have a noisy sex life. I leave it to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to decide which of those traits I share. In a BBC wildlife poll, hedgehogs were chosen as the best natural emblem for the British nation, beating the charismatic badger and the sturdy oak. The victory for the ultimate underdog came about with 42% and more than 9,000 votes cast for the hedgehog. … In short, the British people have taken hedgehogs to their hearts.
Full text of this important debate.
Hat tip to Angèle Dowmunt-Iwaszkiewicz.
