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Kavanagh et al: British Politics 5e

Chapter 19

Parliament

The Houses of Parliament
www.parliament.uk/
The website of the Houses of Parliament is the natural starting point for further research on this chapter. The site provides a formidable range of information including transcripts of debates in both Houses (Hansard), details of Bills before Parliament, information on MPs and Peers and details on the Select and Standing Committees. Perhaps the most valuable section of the site however is the publications section which includes research papers on legislation and contemporary political issues prepared for MPs by the House of Commons Library.

The Public Whip
www.publicwhip.org.uk/
The Public Whip is a site run by volunteers which extracts the voting records of every MP and Peer from Hansard. You can examine this data in a variety of ways, searching by individual MPs or by particular issues. Divisions can also be ordered on the basis of rebellions. The data has been collected since the start of the 1997 Parliament.

Revolts.co.uk
www.revolts.co.uk/
Revolts.co.uk is a site run by Philip Cowley, a leading academic authority on MPs voting behaviour in Parliament. The site provides regular briefing papers on recent votes in Parliament and, if your library holds the appropriate subscriptions, links to Cowley’s articles in e-journals.

Elect the Lords
www.electthelords.org.uk/
Elect the Lords is a site set up by the New Politics Network and Charter 88. As its name suggests, it is a set of resources for those campaigning for an elected House of Lords. The site provides news stories on the campaign and the House of Lords in general. There is also a very useful list of frequently asked questions about the Lords and reform of the Upper House.

The Leader of the House of Commons
www.commonsleader.gov.uk/
The Leader of the House of Commons is responsible for the scheduling of government business in the House of Commons. But in addition the holders of this office (for example, Robin Cook) have used the resources of the post to modernise and reform the Commons. On the website you can review recent reforms and explore contemporary proposals. Of particular interest are the transcripts of the sessions held by the cross-party House of Commons Modernisation Committee.