All posts tagged: parliamentary

MPs rally to end parliamentary prayers

MPs rally to end parliamentary prayers

Published by skeptic

House of Commons, Official Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 MPs from across the House of Commons have backed a motion to end prayers as formal business. Humanists UK, which has long called for an end to parliamentary prayers, has welcomed this much-needed call for inclusive reform. Currently every day in the Commons starts with Anglican prayers. This is despite the fact that most people are non-religious and this is the most non-religious Parliament ever. MPs who attend prayers have the advantage of being able to use a prayer card to reserve their seat for the rest of the day, meaning those who don’t attend those are less likely to secure a seat on busy days and less likely to be picked to speak. Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, and Scottish National Party MPs signed a motion for debate in the House of Commons, called an Early Day Motion (EDM), to end prayers as part of formal House of Commons business. The motion calls for parliamentary meetings to be equally welcoming to all attendees and states that prayers are …

Parliamentary committee calls for evidence

Parliamentary committee calls for evidence

Published by skeptic

Intense lobbying expected as bill seeks to curtail academy freedoms Intense lobbying expected as bill seeks to curtail academy freedoms More from this theme Recent articles A Parliamentary committee that will scrutinise the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill is inviting evidence from the sector. Having passed its first and second reading in the House of Commons, the bill will now be considered by a public bill committee – which will go through the bill line by line. MPs will head oral evidence from sector leaders, but are also calling for written submissions to inform their scrutiny of the bill and any amendments tabled by Parliamentarians. A number of proposals in the bill, particularly around moves to curtail freedoms for academies, have already proved controversial in the sector. A substantial lobbying effort is therefore expected as MPs consider the bill. The committee is due to meet for the first time on January 31, and will report back by 5pm on February 11. But the committee could conclude its work earlier, so is asking for written …

Parliamentary humanists call for end of ‘prayer privilege’ in the Commons

Parliamentary humanists call for end of ‘prayer privilege’ in the Commons

Published by skeptic

Limited seating: Backbenchers who pray are more likely to get to sit or speak in a busy debate The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) has called for an end to ‘prayer privilege’ in the House of Commons. It has done so in response to a call for evidence by the Modernisation Committee. The Committee was set up after the King’s Speech to consider ‘reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices.’ The APPHG called for an end to the current practices of having prayers at the start of every session and allocating seats for the day based on attendance at those prayers; and the lack of a non-religious pastoral carer. Currently every day in the Commons starts with Anglican prayers, even though most people are non-religious and this is currently the most non-religious Parliament ever. This is only made worse by the system of prayer cards. MPs who attend prayers can use a prayer card to reserve their seat for the rest of the day. As there are only 427 seats for 650 …

Mauritius holds parliamentary election with cost of living crisis key issue | Elections News

Mauritius holds parliamentary election with cost of living crisis key issue | Elections News

Published by Sam

About a million people are expected to choose 62 members to parliament with standard of living crisis on top of voters’ mind. People in Mauritius have casted their ballots in the parliamentary election that has been clouded by a wire-tapping scandal. Polls opened at 7am (03:00 GMT) and closed at 6pm (14:00 GMT) on Sunday in the 12th election since independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. Results are expected on Monday. There are about one million registered voters who will elect 62 members to the National Assembly, with the cost of living crisis topping the election issues in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister’s post. Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth’s Militant Socialist Movement party as well as the opposition parties have promised to address the issue in one of the most prosperous nations in Africa. Jugnauth is seeking election a month after a historic agreement that saw the UK cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following a …

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group relaunches after the election

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group relaunches after the election

Published by skeptic

This morning the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) held its inaugural meeting for the new Parliament to reconstitute the Group and elect officers for the following year. The APPHG elected Labour’s Rachel Hopkins MP as Chair. She was previously Co-Chair. It also re-elected the Lib Dems’ Baroness Lorely Burt as Vice Chair and the Conservatives’ Kieran Mullan MP as Secretary. Meanwhile, new Green MP Sian Berry, a longtime patron of Humanists UK, was elected Vice Chair. Chair: Rachel Hopkins MP (Labour) Vice Chair: Sian Berry MP (Green) Vice Chair: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrats) Secretary: Dr Kieran Mullan MP (Conservative) The Group then heard from Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson who covered the upcoming parliamentary agenda. The current House of Commons is the most openly non-religious ever with over 40% of MPs affirming rather than swearing in. The Group has already gained a dozen new members from the new intake. Turning to humanist policies in the new Parliament, Andrew said that new education reforms outlined in the King’s Speech were vital to closing down …

NSS urges Speaker to support end to parliamentary prayers

NSS urges Speaker to support end to parliamentary prayers

Published by skeptic

The National Secular Society has renewed its call to remove prayers from the official business of Parliament. The NSS wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle on Friday to urge him to “make it clear that our Parliament is a place where religion is not imposed” and MPs of all religions and beliefs “are equally welcome and valued”. Sittings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords begin with Anglican prayers – one of the many privileges given to the Church of England due to its established status. Nearly half of MPs took secular affirmation or swore on non-Christian text The NSS’s letter follows the recent ‘swearing in’ ceremonies required for MPs to take their seat. MPs can either take a religious oath, usually while holding a religious text, or make a secular affirmation pledging allegiance to the monarchy. The right for both religious and nonreligious MPs to take their seat by making a secular affirmation was secured by NSS founder Charles Bradlaugh MP. Following the July general …

‘Crime is out of hand’: how young people turned to far right in east German city | European parliamentary elections 2024

‘Crime is out of hand’: how young people turned to far right in east German city | European parliamentary elections 2024

Published by skeptic

Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections. “Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland made particularly stunning gains on Sunday among young voters. For the first time in a national poll, 16- and 17-year-olds could cast their ballots – a reform that had been strongly backed by left-leaning parties. After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The AfD tapped deep wells of support in the former communist east, winning in every state including Brandenburg, where it claimed 27.5% of the vote. The AfD co-leaders, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, celebrate as exit polls come …

EU elections fallout: a shock snap vote, resignations and the far right – video report | European parliamentary elections 2024

EU elections fallout: a shock snap vote, resignations and the far right – video report | European parliamentary elections 2024

Published by skeptic

Emmanuel Macron stunned politicians and the public by announcing a snap general election after the far-right National Rally party won about 32% of the French vote. But it wasn’t just in France that the far right was celebrating. In Germany and Austria, parties on the populist right made stunning gains. Despite that, the pro-European centre appeared to have held in a set of results likely to complicate EU lawmaking Source link

Who are the political supergroups in the European parliament? | European parliamentary elections 2024

Who are the political supergroups in the European parliament? | European parliamentary elections 2024

Published by skeptic

Most political parties in the European parliament make alliances with each other, forming larger groups with those who share their broad ideology. This year’s elections are expected to shake up the parliament’s political landscape as a surge in support for hard-right parties is predicted to strengthen nationalist and far-right groups. At the same time, parties new to the European parliament will be looking for groups to join, and some of those getting re-elected are looking for fresh alliances as well. One such party is Hungary’s ruling far-right Fidesz party, which quit the centre-right European People’s party (EPP) in 2021 when it faced possible suspension or expulsion. Now, it has its eyes on the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. On the liberal side, Renew Europe is expected to decide after the election whether to expel the Dutch VVD party over its decision to enter government with the far right. Here’s a quick guide to the groups in the European parliament. The European People’s party (EPP) This is the biggest political family, representing the centre …

The EU is braced for a rise in the hard right. What matters is how the centre responds | European parliamentary elections 2024

The EU is braced for a rise in the hard right. What matters is how the centre responds | European parliamentary elections 2024

Published by skeptic

When the results of the European parliamentary elections start to emerge on Sunday night, polls suggest they will show that the world’s only directly elected transnational assembly will have tilted, unambiguously, to the right. Yet, for all the talk of a significant surge in support for the forces of Europe’s hard right, their gains should prove broadly in line with a steady progression over the past couple of decades or more. The difference will be in the response. “The real storyline is not the continuing advance of the hard-right parties,” said Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at HEC Paris and the College of Europe. “It’s the extent to which the centre right is prepared to normalise some of them.” Across Europe, national-conservative and far-right parties are now in government in half a dozen of the EU’s 27 member states: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia. In Sweden, a hard-right party is propping up another rightwing coalition in exchange for policy concessions on immigration and law and order. In the Netherlands, …