It would seem that David Maclean’s dire bill to exclude Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act has not got a sponsor in the House of Lords and that effectively kills the bill for now. A big thank you to all 700 Lords who declined to take this bill further. Read more…
Listening to Home Office Minister Tony McNulty on BBC Radio Five last night I was inspired to create this short quiz. The Minister was on to explain the reasons for wanting to increase from 28 days the time the police are able to detain a suspect without charge. When asked Read more…
The House of Commons did themselves a great disservice today when they allowed a third reading of David Maclean’s Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill. They have sent out a message that it is OK for them to pass laws for everyone to obey but themselves. They have slapped other elected Read more…
No not the Grease Michelle (although I do think she is the best Sandy by far). It’s Michelle Epstein from the London Borough of Redbridge that you need to back. Michelle has been nominated for the Inclusion Local Government Worker of the Year in the Local Government Channel Awards. Michelle’s Read more…
It seems that the Labour Parliamentary Committee is supporting the Private Member’s Bill brought by Conservative MP David MacLean. According to the Independent: The email from Labour MPs Tony Lloyd, Angela Eagle, Kevan Jones, Ann Cryer, Joan Ruddock, Martin Salter and Don Touhig says: "We feel strongly that the measures Read more…
Andrew Brown has been stung into action by an article in Prospect and a regular reader of his blog. He’s promised to come up with some positive reforms to make local government better. He has started the discussion on his blog here. One aspect is going to be the role Read more…
David MacLean’s damaging Private Member’s Bill was due to debated again this morning, but somehow yesterday it was dropped off the agenda and postponed until May 18th. It isn’t clear why it has been dropped. The Deputy Speaker said only the Sponsor of a bill can withdraw it. I’m guessing Read more…
Parliament (at least the 25 MPs those that are there on a Friday – only 25 are visible on Parliament TV) is currently debating the Private Members Bill brought by David MacLean (Con). The bill looks to amend the Freedom of Information Act to allow MPs to exclude themselves from Read more…
Not all councils suffer the same problems. Up and down the country the political parties are battling with each other over the candidates they are fielding. But in Teesdale (pop. 24,457) they have a different problem. Out of 32 seats up for election only 7 are being contested. Even then Read more…
As we all know, there are a slew of elections this May: Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, all Local Authorities in Scotland and some in England. As the internet continues to take over the world, there’s more and more of an e-democracy angle with each election. Here’s one or two sites Read more…