Recorded at Queen Mary University of London as part of Student Week, welcoming students at the start of the new academic year, this special live edition features three expert guests: historian Dr Robert Saunders; Private Members’ Bill specialist Dr Daniel Gover; and historian Dr Catherine Haddon, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and former Queen Mary student.

The panel begins by assessing the new Burnham Government. Has the Prime Minister’s more optimistic, personable style marked a substantive break with Keir Starmer or merely improved the presentation? They consider the fiscal and geopolitical constraints facing the Government; Burnham’s management of Labour MPs; the balance of power among senior ministers and advisers; relations with the civil service; and whether experience as a metro mayor is useful preparation for Downing Street.

The students then put the questions. Should Britain cap political donations after Reform UK received unprecedented sums from two billionaires, and would retrospective legislation be justified? Is the emerging five-party system here to stay, and can Parliament’s rules properly accommodate smaller parties? Will social media displace traditional journalism, or make trusted scrutiny and fact-checking more important?

The discussion also covers whether Parliament has too many recesses; the tension between national infrastructure needs and local opposition; devolution, separatism and the future of the Union; and reform of Private Members’ Bills. Finally, the panel recommends essential reading for students of Parliament, from political diaries and Anthony Trollope to contemporary accounts by Rory Stewart and Jess Phillips.

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Sound mixing: Matthew Kowalczuk, Queen Mary University of London

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MPs have rejected the assisted dying bill – but why did a proposal they had previously supported lose this time, and what happens now?

Andrew Lewin MP, a supporter of the bill, hot-foots it from the Chamber to give us his immediate reaction. He describes the atmosphere when the result was announced, offers his explanation for the bill’s defeat and considers whether and how the campaign to change the law might continue.

Back in the studio, Hansard Society researcher Matthew England joins us to crunch the numbers. Turnout proved crucial to the final result: was the bill defeated because MPs changed their minds, or because previous supporters stayed away?

We explore why support has slowly ebbed in the Commons and examine the substantive and procedural problems that confronted the bill.

Could there now be a backlash against the House of Lords over the role Peers played in derailing the legislation? Might the Commons seek to curb the Upper House’s powers or was the Lords simply doing its job by scrutinising a deeply consequential and technically complex bill? And with this latest proposal defeated, is assisted dying now off Parliament’s agenda for the foreseeable future?

Plus, Nigel Farage told Reform UK’s conference that he would declare a “national emergency” over the small boats crisis. But would such a declaration actually give a Prime Minister any additional legislative powers? And Lee Anderson accused MPs of being lazy and suggested that, under a Reform government, Parliament would sit seven days a week to force through its legislative programme. What would that mean in practice for the management – and, more importantly, the scrutiny – of parliamentary business? Would MPs, officials and the wider parliamentary machinery be able to sustain it? And even if legislation were driven rapidly through the Commons, what would happen when it reached the House of Lords?

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

❓ Send us your questions about Parliament:

✅ Subscribe to our newsletter.

📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety / @hansardsociety.bsky.social

£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Burnham made his despatch box debut as Prime Minister in the House of Commons this week with one of the longest ministerial statements on record and a promise to strengthen the Prime Minister’s grip on Whitehall while transferring power and resources away from it.

We examine the new Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and No. 10 North. Are they instruments of genuine decentralisation or a more powerful prime-ministerial centre with a Manchester outpost? If Burnham wants Parliament to become the country’s “circuit breaker”, what powers, information and resources will MPs need to do the job?

We also ask whether “Parliament, not the courts” means clearer ministerial responsibility or executive power that is harder to challenge and what it all might mean for the future of judicial review. And will devolution without stronger scrutiny simply create powerful mayors and council leaders with weak legislative checks?

Plus: Keir Starmer leaves Parliament, Labour MPs contest three select committee chairships, and more than 6,000 written parliamentary questions land after the summer recess. At an estimated £219 each, why are a handful of MPs generating such a large bill and is it time for a recess cap?

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

❓ Send us your questions about Parliament:

✅ Subscribe to our newsletter.

📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety / @hansardsociety.bsky.social

£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.