Opposition MPs have voiced their dissatisfaction at the government’s handling of Owen Paterson’s breach of parliamentary standards in an emergency House of Commons’ debate. Opening the debate, Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain said the government’s actions last week had “tainted MPs with allegations of sleaze” in the eyes of the public. Cabinet minister Steve Barclay…
The health secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed an independent inquiry will be launched to look at the crimes committed by David Fuller. Last week, Fuller pleaded guilty to the 1987 murders of Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce, and sexually abusing over 100 female corpses. In the House of Commons, the health secretary apologised to the families of…
The UK is facing an energy crisis, and a climate crisis. People are rightfully concerned about their future, both short term and long term, as energy costs have shot up whilst temperatures rise. How can we solve both these problems? For too long, politicians have delayed bringing in proper legislation to deal with these crises,…
Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg announced that the government has u-turned on the controversial standards amendment passed yesterday. Rees-Mogg said: “I fear last night’s debate conflated the individual case with the general concern”, despite last night saying it was important to “do the right thing” even when faced with “a degree of opprobrium”. SNP’s…
Secretary of state for culture Nadine Dorries has warned social media platforms that the government’s online safety bill will make them “accountable” for their actions. Speaking to the draft online safety bill parliamentary committee, Dorries said: “I think people like Mark Zuckerberger [sic] and Nick Clegg and others who are wanting to take off into…
MPs have voted to reform the parliamentary committee on standards and review the suspension of Owen Paterson by 248 to 221. The amendment to the bill was led by Conservative backbenchers, including Andrea Leadsom, and reportedly pushed through with a three-line-whip. Paterson, who was found by the independent cross-party standards committee to have used his…
Labour MP Fleur Anderson has proposed a new law which would ban wet wipes containing plastic. In a ten minute rule motion, the MP for Putney said that in 2019, a staggering 11 billion wet wipes were used in the UK. “The plastic in wet wipes breaks down into microplastics, which don’t dissolve ever. They…
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran today said the government needs to undertake more action to “keep water safe”. In a debate on bathing water status for the river Thames in Oxford, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said “our rivers should be places of protected picturesque beauty, not low-cost avenues for getting rid of sewage and biodiversity”. Responding for the government, environment…
Chancellor Rishi Sunak faced questions from the parliamentary treasury committee today in his first statement since the budget was unveiled last Wednesday. Sunak defended his national insurance rise, saying: “Anyone who tells you that there’s another way to raise… billions of pounds, I don’t think is being honest or credible because there really isn’t.” After…
COP26 has arrived. Over the next two weeks, Glasgow will host what is being billed as humanity’s last, best chance to keep global warming under 1.5C. Over 200 countries will work together to set ambitious global climate change targets, but with big polluters like China and Russia looking less and likely to achieve global net-zero…
