scholarly journals “What Is the Point of Parliamentary Debate?” Deliberation, Oratory, Opposition and Spectacle in the British House of Commons

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Alan Finlayson
Keyword(s):  
House Of Commons ◽  
Parliamentary Debate

scholarly journals Disability, Rights and Vulnerability in British Parliamentary Debate

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Odell
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Disability Movement ◽  
The Welfare State

This paper examines discussion of disability and disabled people by Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons from 1979–2017. It examines general trends in the number of speeches mentioning disability, including the parties and MPs most likely to mention disability issues, and examines how disability is used in conjunction with two keywords: ‘rights’ and ‘vulnerable’. It uses these keywords to explore two conceptions of how the state should engage with disability and disabled people: a paternalistic conception (which post-2010 has become more common) and a rights-based conception (which has been in decline since the 1990s). I conclude with a discussion about how this reflects the disability movement in the UK, and what it means for the future of disability politics, the welfare state and how disabled people themselves might view paternalistic government policies.

The United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 775-800
Author(s):  
Jack Blumenau ◽  
Roberta Damiani
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Setting ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Government ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time

We describe the institutional setting of parliamentary debate in the UK House of Commons and assess the determinants of participation in Commons’ debates using data on more than two million speeches from 1979 to 2019. We show that the main determinant of participation in parliamentary debate in the UK is whether an MP holds an institutionally powerful position in either the government or opposition parties. In addition, we describe two patterns in the evolution of debate behavior in the Commons over time. First, although MPs in government and opposition leadership positions give more speeches than backbench MPs in all periods that we study, the speechmaking “bonus” these actors enjoy has decreased over time. Second, MPs have increasingly employed constituency-oriented language in their parliamentary speeches over the past forty years, a finding we link to theoretical accounts of legislative competition in personal-vote-seeking electoral systems.

Writing without letters

1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-579
Author(s):  
Edward Ullendorff
Keyword(s):  
House Of Commons ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
Post War ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester ◽  
Bernard Shaw ◽  
Academic Implications ◽  
Comparative Philology ◽  
Special Responsibility ◽  
Member Of Parliament

The late Dr. Mont Follick was a Labour Member of Parliament in the first post-war House of Commons and a dedicated advocate of spelling reform. I vividly remember a vigorous parliamentary debate, initiated by Mont Follick and supported, outside the House, by Bernard Shaw, which ranged widely over the field of spelling reform. When Mont Follick died, he left a generous bequest to the University of Manchester for the endowment of a chair whose occupant would concern himself with matters of spelling improvement and rationalization. The committee appointed by the Manchester University Senate to study this offer and its academic implications had many interesting and enjoyable discussions, and we eventually emerged with a proposal, accepted by the Mont Follick trustees, for the establishment of a chair of Comparative Philology with special responsibility for studies of graphic and phonemic representation (or some such formula). After exhaustive inquiries we appointed William Haas to this chair in 1963, and his subsequent activities and publications have shown that this was a singularly felicitous choice and a wellnigh ideal appointment.

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