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The House of Lords has now risen for the festive season, returning January 10th. That does not mean the political work stops, but it does slow down a little. We wish all of our readers a chance to do that – to recover, revive and take a step away from the many pressures of living in this age of shocks – and to have a wonderful, peaceful, healthy festive season.
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Natalie’s Fatal Motion would have stopped strike ban rules
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We will enter 2024 with trade unions facing a new world of strike ban regulations. With potential fines of up to £1m if they don’t help employers with, as the Royal College of Nursing put it, “breaking their own strikes”. Over 40% of railway workers will be stopped from striking and a staggering 75% of Border Force staff are now on a strike ban. And individual workers, contrary to what Minister Kevin Hollinrake said in the Commons, face the sack if they fail to comply with a work notice.
The Labour Party again failed to act as the strong opposition that we all hope for. They refused to back Natalie’s Fatal Motion, which would have blocked new rules for minimum service levels for Railway workers; ambulance staff and the Border Force. Had the Fatal Motion passed, the Government could have invoked the parliament Act to force the rules through, but this takes over a year and would take us beyond the next general election.
Natalie explained what was happening on Yorkshire Bylines and spoke to The London Economic after the vote.
With an increasing number of new rules being agreed via this type of Ministerial decree, It’s clear that we need some kind of parliamentary check on secondary legislation that can impact millions of people. That is the job of a second chamber and both of the Green Party peers have put forward bills to create a new chamber elected via PR to replace the current Lords. Despite Labour Party complaints about the Lords having no mandate, they have kicked the whole issue of democratic reform into the long grass of a second term.
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It’s, almost, Christmas, so we have kept this newsletter short. But should you want to browse the work of your Green peers, the wonderful Parallel Parliament website assembles a useful record – here for Jenny and here for Natalie.
That has links to every written question, every debate and vote. There’s fun little titbits like with whom they have most debated: Lords Callanan, Bethell and Benyon – ministers for the Department of Energy and Net Zero, Health and DEFRA for Natalie, and Callanan, Baroness Williams (chief whip) and Baroness Vere (now Treasury, but was Transport) for Jenny.
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Looking for a final Christmas present?
News you can only get here: the publication date for Natalie’s forthcoming book Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair and Rebuild Society has just been brought forward to March. That means you can avoid the last-minute shopping rush for a present for the politically minded giftee – pre-order a copy for them and you can print out (or email) this voucher telling them it is on the way.
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Natalie and Jenny offer tours to Green Party groups on Tuesday afternoons when the House is sitting. If you have a group of 6 party members who would like to visit please email wilsonc@parliament.uk
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To find out more about their work:
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Please consider supporting this work, our regular donor page is here
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In hope and solidarity,
The House of Lords team
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Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London, SE16 9GQ
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Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 