[Politics] What's happening in Parliament next week?

[[~OMAR~]]

 

In the wake of the local elections the political pot is simmering nicely in Westminster, where the key event looks to be the Lords debate on the details of the Retained EU Law Bill, where peers are poised to make changes that will infuriate Brexiteer Tory MPs. (See Monday, below).

 

The announcement of government changes to the bill has already provoked a spectacular bust-up between the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle and the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch; already annoyed by the announcement of the changes in the press, Sir Lindsay was infuriated when she seemed to dismiss his concerns a matter of sequencing.

The trouble is that, beyond issuing rebukes, there's not much the chair can do, if big announcements are not made in the Commons chamber.

The Speaker can't ban ministers, dock their pay or otherwise discipline offenders without a vote of the House, which the government would surely block.

I keep banging on about the building congestion in the Lords.

 

The latest manifestation is that peers' detailed trawl through the Levelling Up Bill will extend to a 14th day on Monday 22, which suggests seven long days of report stage consideration will have to be crowbarred into Their Lordships' already crowded agenda.

 

That will increase the clamour from Conservative MPs and local councillors to get some of the devolution powers they want into law.

And it could mean a huge logjam of bills just before the likely end of the parliamentary session in October/November.

That in turn gives peers a lot of leverage against legislation they don't like.

Monday 15 May
Commons: (14:30) Defence questions, with any urgent questions or government statements following at 15:30.

 

Main debate: Second Reading of the Victims and Prisoners Bill which aims to improve support for victims of crime and amplify their voices in the criminal justice process.

It brings in a new Public Advocate to represent victims and families caught up in disasters like Hillsborough.

 

But campaigners are not content with the proposals, so expect some cross part attempts to beef up the new system.

 

There's also concern around provisions for the justice secretary to intervene in decisions by the Parole Board, perhaps taking over the decision in high-profile cases.

This has already attracted string criticism - and there will be pressure on new Justice Secretary Alex Chalk to drop the plan drawn up by his predecessor Dominic Raab.

Westminster Hall: (16:30): MPs debate two e-petitions around food labelling, e-petition 585304 calls for the government to bring in 'Owen's Law' - named after 18-year-old Owen Carey who died of an allergic reaction.

 

Campaigners want UK restaurants to put all information about allergens in their food on the face of the main menu and require waiters to discuss allergies with customers.

The second petition, e-petition 589716 calls for the appointment of an Allergy Tsar as a champion for people living with allergies.

 

Committees: Public Accounts (15:30pm) returns to one of its key issues, with evidence from Treasury Permanent Secretary James Bowler and other top officials on tackling fraud and corruption.

Lords: (14:30) Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill - Report (day one of two). This is the point where peers make serious attempts to rewrite a bill - and this one will see some very heavy-duty politics.

 

This is a key Brexit measure to reprocess or simply dump the vast body of law accumulated during the UK's EU membership.

At the time of Brexit it was translated wholesale into British law because there wasn't time to sift through it in detail, and this bill originally said those laws - now estimated at 4,800, could be rewritten by ministers, or would be repealed at the end of the year - the so-called sunset clause.

 

Critics argued that this deadline was too tight and that necessary regulations could simply disappear. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has now decided to ditch the sunset clause, and instead there is a list of 600 laws slated for repeal.

 

This addresses one concern around the bill, but many peers also objected to the sweeping powers the bill will give to ministers to rewrite retained EU law.

Their response is to propose a new amendment requiring that those 600 laws are sifted by a committee of MPs and Peers, so Parliament can express a view on any changes proposed by ministers.

The amendment is proposed by pro-Brexit Conservative Lord Hamilton of Epsom, former Tory Chief Whip Lord McLoughlin and Crossbenchers Lord Hope and Lord Anderson. Opposition parties are keeping their distance, but will doubtless support the amendment.

 

The government has tried to compromise but now seems to be is caught between its Brexiteer MPs and a probable majority of Peers. This could get messy.

 

[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65572360]