The Conservatives are starting to lose their grip on rural England and Wales. Family farmers feel betrayed, country dwellers can’t let their dogs swim in the local badly polluted river and whole regions feel a post Brexit neglect.
Category: Lords reform and PR
An unelected chamber has no place in a modern democracy, reform of the House of Lords is long overdue
Immediately after being introduced in the Lords she began to use her position to fight for its replacement with a fully elected chamber. She has promoted a Bill that would give the Lords the chance to develop their own reforms
Read on for her latest posts on this topic
A bad week for democracy and freedom
This was a bad week for democracy and our freedoms in the UK. We lost the right to protest noisily, and effectively, to vote without ID, and to have an independent electoral commission. Parliament also allowed the government to break international law by deporting refugees to Rwanda, along with giving the Home Secretary the power to arbitrarily deport several million people born in this country (dual nationals) with no right of appeal prior to them losing their citizenship.
Public service and private enrichment: the need for legal separation
Existing regimes often fail to ensure that people in government and politics work for the public interest and not for private gain. We need a legal, formal separation of public service from private enrichment. We need to hold former Ministers, former politicians and even former lawyers to much higher standards than exist at present. Continue reading “Public service and private enrichment: the need for legal separation”
Inside the red and gold bubble
As Jacob Rees-Mogg, as leader of the Commons, continues to attack remote voting and to resist the Commons working more remotely during Covid, Jenny responds in the Lords. She disagrees with any peers who think that being in the chamber should give them more priority than than those who are working remotely.
Greens celebrate appointment of Natalie Bennett to House of Lords
Green Party members are this morning celebrating the appointment of former leader Natalie Bennett to the House of Lords. Continue reading “Greens celebrate appointment of Natalie Bennett to House of Lords”
Restore our democracy, not just the buildings
The home of our democracy is falling apart and it is plain for anyone to see. We have buckets in the corridors collecting drips, dregs and sometimes even gushes. Sometimes water even mixes with electricity – as happened with a leak in my office – and yet we have become so conditioned to these things that no one bats an eyelid and we just get on with it. Sadly, the same can be said of our democratic processes.
Continue reading “Restore our democracy, not just the buildings”
Green Party Peer Launches Bid To Scrap House of Lords
I today launched the House of Lords (Elections and Reform) Bill. This comes on the day that the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) has criticised the Government for kicking the issue of Lords reform into the long grass for more than 107 years.
Continue reading “Green Party Peer Launches Bid To Scrap House of Lords”
Message to ‘Make Votes Matter’ mass lobby of Parliament
You are playing an essential role in our parliamentary democracy, in making your voices heard. I’m hopeful that your MPs will listen and start to think hard about the fact that our voting system is completely broken.
Continue reading “Message to ‘Make Votes Matter’ mass lobby of Parliament”
Crowdfunder to support Jenny’s work
Unlike MPs, who receive state funding, members of the House of Lords don’t receive any financial support to employ staff or fund office costs.
As the only Green in the House of Lords, covering as many issues as I can, I need staff to help me with research and press work. I have a small, part time team (equivalent to one full time person) who are paid for from donations from people like you. Continue reading “Crowdfunder to support Jenny’s work”
Starting a rebellion against secondary legislation
Did you know that the Government are able to wave through masses of tweaks to the law with little to no scrutiny by a process called “secondary legislation”?
Continue reading “Starting a rebellion against secondary legislation”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 