Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

The Queen's Speech

One of the things I had to learn first about Westminster is the seasons that dominate the year.

Each year our proceedings begin in dignity and splendour in late November with the magnificent ceremony of the state opening. Thereafter they flow through ever quickening rapids before plummeting into the unseemly scramble we saw last week, involving many late nights, while government and opposition wrangle over what will be allowed through before the end of term guillotine falls. It is like starting a marathon each year at a stately trot, knowing full well that the pace will increase with every mile and finish with a mad dash for the line. I don’t suppose it will ever change, in part because governments of all persuasions try and do too much, leaving insufficient time for the unexpected events that will inevitably break into our collective calendar – like war and rugby world cup celebrations (wasn’t it great?)

This week we received the Queen’s speech, written by the government of course, setting out their legislative program for the next session of Parliament. We will debate this leisurely for a week, with a different theme each day, then there will come, both in the Commons and the Lords, a spate of second reading debates which introduce each new Bill.

By Christmas many of these bills will already be starting their committee stages upstairs where the tedious but necessary business of going through long bills line by line gets underway. January to Easter always feels a real slog, with many late nights (less so now, but they still happen) when the bills come back to the floor of the House for what is called the Report stage and Third Reading. With such a large majority the outcome is guaranteed unless there is a substantial backbench rebellion on the government side as there was over foundation hospitals and probably will be again over top-up fees.

By the time mid-summer arrives there is a sense of physical and emotional exhaustion about the whole Palace of Westminster and we escape the intensity for a while, only to hurl ourselves back into the fray in September to deal with the piles of unfinished legislation in what has come to be known as the spill-over session.

There is a sense of relentless momentum about the whole year, moving towards an inevitable climax. So this year’s marathon has just begun – it remains a true privilege to be part of such an historic process!

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, December 02, 2003