Join two of the UK's leading parliamentary experts, Mark D'Arcy and Ruth Fox, as they guide you through the often mysterious ways our politicians do business and explore the running controversies about the way Parliament works. Each week they will analyse how laws are made and ministers held accountable by the people we send to Westminster. They will be debating the topical issues of the day, looking back at key historical events and discussing the latest research on democracy and Parliament. Why? Because whether it's the taxes you pay, or the laws you've got to obey... Parliament matters!
Mark D'Arcy was the BBC's parliamentary correspondent for two decades. Ruth Fox is the Director of the parliamentary think-tank the Hansard Society.
Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Founding producer Luke Boga Mitchell; episode producer Richard Townsend.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Join two of the UK's leading parliamentary experts, Mark D'Arcy and Ruth Fox, as they guide you through the often mysterious ways our politicians do business and explore the running controversies about the way Parliament works. Each week they will analyse how laws are made and ministers held accountable by the people we send to Westminster. They will be debating the topical issues of the day, looking back at key historical events and discussing the latest research on democracy and Parliament. Why? Because whether it's the taxes you pay, or the laws you've got to obey... Parliament matters!
Mark D'Arcy was the BBC's parliamentary correspondent for two decades. Ruth Fox is the Director of the parliamentary think-tank the Hansard Society.
Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Founding producer Luke Boga Mitchell; episode producer Richard Townsend.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week, we explore how far Parliament can go in holding members of the Royal Family to account, as pressure grows for MPs to scrutinise Prince Andrew’s finances and royal titles. We ask whether Nigel Farage should get a right of reply at Prime Minister’s Questions amid his growing prominence, and examine Labour’s reshuffle of select committee posts and calls for greater transparency in how they’re filled. Plus, a look back at the rebuilding of the House of Commons Chamber, 75 years after its postwar reopening.
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Normally Parliament steers clear of discussing the Royal Family but with Prince Andrew embroiled in the scandal around the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, there are increasing calls for MPs to act. Could he be called before a select committee to explain his finances and housing arrangements? Might Parliament legislate to strip him of his titles? Could he be removed from the line of succession to the Throne? To explore these issues we are joined by Dr Craig Prescott of Royal Holloway, University of London, an expert on the modern monarchy.
With other party leaders increasingly using Prime Minister’s Question Time to take potshots at Nigel Farage, does the Reform UK party leader deserve some kind of right of reply? The problem is that while he may have a commanding lead in the opinion polls, he leads a tiny contingent of MPs – so giving him a regular slot, ahead of other parties could create more problems than it solves. But there are ways he could hit back at his critics.
There’s also movement on the select committee corridor as Labour MPs elect new members to fill vacancies left by those promoted in the recent government reshuffle. But questions remain about the process itself. Should there be greater transparency around how parties decide who sits on these influential committees?
Finally, this month marks 75 years since the Commons Chamber re-opened after being destroyed in the Blitz. We speak to Dr Eloise Donnelly, Curator of Parliament’s Historic Furniture and Decorative Art, about how the reconstruction balanced modernisation with tradition. From a 15-year-old apprentice carving the Speaker’s Chair to German prisoners of war quarrying the stone, the story of the rebuild is one of craftsmanship, controversy and continuity. At the heart of a new exhibition marking the anniversary is a remarkable architectural scale model of the postwar Chamber — built in 1944 to help MPs visualise the design, exhibited across the country, lost for decades, but then rediscovered in Parliament. As Ruth reveals, this long-missing model solves a small but fascinating mystery in the Hansard Society’s own history.
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Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox
Producer: Gareth Jones
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.