Parliament

Since its establishment the Constitution Unit has taken a keen interest in parliament and parliamentary reform, often seeking to learn lessons for the UK parliament from similar institutions overseas. We have published particularly widely on the House of Lords and its reform, but also on the House of Commons and the implications of devolution for the Westminster parliament. Our parliaments work is co-ordinated by Meg Russell.

Projects | Online Resources | Publications | Monitor Articles | Events | Other

Research Projects

Current research projects:

• The Impact of House of Commons Select Committees
• The Changing Role of the House of Lords Post-1999
• The Policy Impact of Parliament
• Parliamentary Scrutiny of Senior Public Appointments

Past parliament projects include:

• Assessing the Introduction of Public Bill Committees (2009)
• Governance of Parliament (2004-07)
• A Study of Draft Bills (1999)
• Reforming the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas (1998-2000)
• Lords Reform Commentaries (1996-present)
• Parliament and Devolution (1999-2004)

Online Resources

• Lords defeats update: The House of Lords project has compiled a detailed record of all government defeats in the House of Lords since 1999 to the present day.
• Votes on Lords reform, March 2007: We also provide a breakdown of votes in the 2007 House of Lords on Lords reform by party, with lists of members voting each way.

Publications

Individual project webpages include details of publications such as journal articles, but for a list of Constitution Unit parliament briefings, click here.

Monitor Articles

Selected Monitor articles:

• Monitor 40 ( September 2008) Governance of Britain One Year On
• Monitor 36 (May 2007) Lords Reform: Progress at Last?
• Monitor 33 (May 2006) Party Donors, Peerages and the Constitution
• Monitor 32 (January 2006) Parliament Bites Back
• Monitor 22 (March 2003) Lords Reform Ends in Shambles
• Monitor 21 (December 2002) The Meaning of Modernisation
• Monitor 18 (March 2002) Parliament Awakening?
• Monitor 17 (December 2001) Lords Reform Stage Two: Wakeham or What?
• Monitor 9 (December 1999) Reforming the House of Lords and Lessons from Overseas
• Monitor 2 (March 1998) Lords Reform 1,2,3...

To access a full list of editions of Monitor, click here.

Events

• Seminar: Reforming the Legislative Process: reports of the Lords Constitution Committee and Commons Modernisation Committee Prof Lord Norton of Louth and Helen Irwin, Clerk of Committees, House of Commons (December 2007)
• Report Launch: The House Rules? (October 2007)
• Seminar: Reforming or Ruining the Lords? Lord Lipsey and Andrew Tyrie MP (January 2007)
• Seminar: Lords a’leaping: the growing assertiveness of the House of Lords Meg Russell, The Constitution Unit (June 2006)
• Seminar: Reform of the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas (March 2003)

Other

If you would like to receive e-mail updates about our parliamentary research every 2-3 months including details of any new publications you can request this by e-mailing Meg Russell.

This page last modified 14 July, 2010 by v.spence@ucl.ac.uk

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