If the election is to be on 6th May then it will be called on March 29th and parliament will go into recess on April 12th according to this article on Politics.co.uk.
But what about the Easter recess; they had 18 days last year and this year Easter Sunday falls on April 4th. Will they break up some time before this or on the Friday just before? At the very least the Easter Break must surely take away another five working days from the time they have left, could it be more?
I have heard that the Lords have no time for a first reading of the bill until 9th March (can’t remember where, one of the lists or another blog) so even if they start on the 10th that gives it just over five weeks to progress though the first two readings followed by the committee stage, the report stage and the third reading. Assuming here that the process is similar to that in the Commons. Then there is consideration of the amendments and hopefully the Lords won’t be as ineffectual and as disabled by party bullying as the Commons has disgracefully been, so there will be some amendments. Then Royal assent, no idea how long that takes.
Five weeks seems far too long to me so I do think we really all do need to write to the Lords, some people are making sterling efforts already and there is a list of Lords with some information about their interests here. This can be amended so please add any information you find.
Then lobbying of MPs is in order, anyone who hasn't sent their MP this document might want to do it now and the AHED submission to the Scrutiny Committee is very clear.
There is talk also of the APPG for Home Education hosting an event for home educators to meet Lords and explain the problems with the bill, some speakers have been mentioned, I remember Imran and Betsy, their marvellous submission to the scrutiny committee is here.
You can read all the submissions here.
Timeline | Children Schools and Families Bill |
Date | Event |
23rd Feb | Third reading: Commons |
10th March | Earliest date for first reading in Lords, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading to follow. |
29th March | Election called |
4th April | Easter Sunday: Possible recess |
12th April | Parliament dissolved |
6th May | General and Local Elections |
Update: There are now rumours that the Election may be brought forward to April 15th, which would mean that the time for moving the bill through the Lords would be reduced to less than two weeks with Parliament dissolved round about the 22nd March.
4 comments:
The Lords First Reading is guessed from the published timetable that has no mention of it up to the 4th.
You have to factor in the requirement (I don't know if it's tradition or in law somewhere) that there are two weeks between stages - it's explained at the set of links from http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage_bill/coms_lords_second_reading.htm
"A Bill’s second reading usually takes place no less than two weekends after first reading."
"Committee stage can last for one or two days to eight or more. It usually starts no fewer than two weeks after the second reading."
"Report stage usually starts 14 days after committee stage. It can be spread over several days (but usually fewer days than at committee stage)."
"At least three sitting days usually pass between report stage and third reading."
I would hope that if the government attempted to blatantly shrink those 2-week periods, the Lords would resist the pressure, especially as the Bill didn't get much Commons scrutiny.
Thanks Dave H, I hoped someone would add more information.
It has been tweeted (thanks Tech) that Brown might go for an April election, which would be marvellous for us.
Bruce thinks that Labour have a dilemma; they can't really afford to pay for campaigns for both the general Election and the Local Elections but if they go for 6th May when they could hold both on one day it will be a week after everyone receives the wage slip that tells them just how much they have lost due to increased National Insurance Contributions.
So what will they do? I know what I am visualising!
Loads of options -
June 3rd because he wants to hold out as long as possible, but runs the risk of getting wiped out in the local elections with a follow-on wipeout in the general.
May 6th is most sensible and obvious because it just gets all the voting over in one go
April 22nd avoids any embarrassment if the "we're out of recession" GDP results in January turn out to be a blip and we're in as deep as before. And the payslip deductions, as you mention.
End of March is vaguely possible, then he won't have to worry about a budget.
End of March! Even better. We can but hope. Best to behave as if it could be June though I suppose.
Post a Comment