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The article discusses the scarcity of the subject catalogue of the House of Commons usually being distributed in south-east of England and the solutions made possible by Chadwyck-Healey Limited. The author mentioned that the parliamentary paper was a vital tool for the study of the nineteenth century in Britain and in South America. He also reported that the Irish University Press decided to publish a 1000 volume series reprints of selected papers yet only small proportion of the papers were reprinted to solve the problem. The author also said that the company introduced microfiche reprints of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers because of the incompetence of the first reprinted papers. The completion of the microfiche reprint is also reported.

The reconstruction of past trends in party membership can be fraught, especially when parties themselves kept no aggregate records. This was the case with the British Conservative party prior to 1946. The aggregate figures never existed, and the data that would be required to construct no longer exist to the required extent. Nonetheless, this article argues that it is methodologically possible to offer more detailed analysis than hitherto, by analysing local as well as national-level Conservative sources, triangulating with the national-level Labour party statistics and taking insights from more explicitly political science literature. This paper's substantive argument is that although Conservative membership fell after 1939, it did not collapse; that it recovered somewhat from early 1943 onwards and that recovery then afforded the party a base from which it was able to build, with spectacular success after 1945. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballot order positional effects, electoral advantage gained from a candidate's surname location on the ballot paper, have been extensively studied. For ‘low-information’ elections especially candidates located at or near the top of the ballot paper are advantaged relative to their competitors. This examination of alphabetic bias uses data from local council election results in Britain. The examination of election contests featuring more than half a million candidates provides evidence of an alphabetic bias which increases as the number of vacancies increases. We calibrate the effects upon votes and vote share of alphabetical ordering of candidates. Comparing votes cast for last- and first-placed candidates in the ballot order demonstrates a clear advantage to those placed first. This increases in size as both the number of seats and competing candidates increases. Those located in the top half of the ballot paper are more likely to finish in the top half of the vote order. Subsequently, the distribution of surnames among elected councillors is clustered towards the top of the alphabet. Measures could remove the effects of alphabetic bias, such as randomising name order and introducing experiments in local council electoral practice, a cost-effective means for evaluating change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on the majority support which the national daily press devoted to the Labour Party in a general election. How many national dailies gave their support; Announcement made by Lord Rothermere in May 1997, owner of the Conservative Daily Mail; Background information on Lord Rothermere.

The year 2002 has seen plenty of constitutional developments and proposals for reform, notably a white paper on elected regional assemblies and a white paper on House of Lords reform, followed by the establishment of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to consider options on the composition of the upper house. There has also been considerable innovation in the pilots of electronic and all-postal voting in the local elections. However, as so often since 1997, many have been disappointed with the content of reform proposals and the piecemeal approach the government has continued to take. Although this article is retrospective, much of the last year has been spent looking forwards. Freedom of Information is moving up the agenda of public bodies as the full commencement date of 2005 approaches, while the devolved institutions are looking towards their second elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of humanitarian intervention as a tool of foreign policy in the Conservative-led Coalition. The first section of the paper provides historical context and assesses the traditional approaches to humanitarian intervention as an instrument of foreign policy of Conservative governments since the end of the Cold War. This analytical narrative considers the Major Government's response to the Bosnian War. The second section of the paper considers the Conservative-led Coalition's approach to humanitarian intervention in two ways: first by an examination of the influence of Blair's humanitarian intervention and secondly, by an evaluation of British involvement in the Libyan Revolution of 2011. The third and final section of the paper offers an explanatory interpretation of the Conservative-led Coalition's humanitarian intervention. This interpretation is predicated on an English School theoretical framework for understanding international relations and, in particular, advances the argument that the global worldview of David Cameron, William Hague and their liberal Conservative colleagues can be understood as solidarist. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sanders, Clarke, Stewart and Whiteley (2011) simulate the 2010 election under the Alternative Vote (AV). Their results show large gains for the Liberal Democrats. I alter their methodology to make the estimation of voters' first preferences under AV more accurate. With this change, the Liberal Democrats gains are considerably smaller, on the order of 10 seats or less. Bootstrap estimation shows that a Lib-Lab majority coalition would probably not have been feasible under AV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The election of more than 60 British National Party (BNP) councillors across England from 2002-2007 does not sit easily with the conventional analysis of far-right parties in the UK, which has tended to dismiss the extreme right as an insignificant political force. Building on a recent Democratic Audit report on the BNP by Peter John et al. (The BNP — The Roots of its Appeal, University of Essex: Democratic Audit, 2006), this paper examines the dynamics of local party competition in the localities where the BNP has achieved greatest local representation. Through this analysis, the paper challenges the dominant view of the BNP, arguing that the BNP's breakthrough in English local elections must be understood as a warning signal about the state of local democracy in England and, in particular, an indicator of the advanced decay of local political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The former Prime Minister's review of party-funding reforms, chaired by Sir Hayden Phillips, reported in March 2007. It was followed in June 2008 by a White Paper from the Ministry of Justice. This article considers these proposals in the context of both previous reforms in Britain and trends in party-funding reform across the rest of Europe. It seeks to establish whether these proposals represent continuity in the British case, and the extent to which Britain arguably remains 'exceptional' in terms of party funding. It concludes that the Phillips review represented a potential partial break from British exceptionalism, whilst the White Paper represents a continuation. Both, however, provide further evidence of the fragility of the cartel model in respect of Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how David Cameron has utilised the Prime Ministerial power of ministerial selection and portfolio allocation within the context of the relationship between party expectations and coalition constraints. Specifically, the paper considers the significance to the Parliamentary Conservative Party of Cameron's use of patronage in terms of proportionality (numbers); portfolio distribution (prestige) and reshuffles (renegotiation of numbers and prestige). It argues that Cameron has been relatively astute in terms of his allocation of portfolios to the Liberal Democrats. However, it notes that the constraining impact of coalition has been detrimental to three groups within the PCP: first, those made ministers at a lower level than expected; secondly, those who held shadow ministerial posts in opposition but were overlooked when fewer ministerial roles were available; and, finally, the new intake of 2010 whose career progression has been slower than in previous administrations as fewer reshuffles have occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The publication of a White Paper, Recall of MPs, and a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny, by the UK Government in December 2011 was greeted with almost universal antipathy. In bringing forward the draft Bill Cabinet Office ministers declared their intention to ‘trigger a debate on what would be the best model for a recall mechanism’ and they expressed a willingness ‘to consider alternative models’ or even to contemplate ‘adopting a completely different approach’. Yet, they made it clear any such proposals ‘must work within our unique constitutional framework’ and be ‘suitable for our system of representative democracy’. The objective of this article, therefore, is to do precisely what Cabinet Office ministers asked: to examine comparative experience and to apply lessons from that experience to the UK's ‘unique constitutional framework’. Three questions guide the analysis: first, what is the problem to be addressed in introducing recall?; secondly, what does comparative experience reveal about the operation of recall? and thirdly how unique is the UK's constitutional framework? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-election socialisation has frequently been identified as a source of parliamentarians' disposition towards party loyalty. Yet a recent study of the socialisation experiences of new members in the British Parliament, using tenure as proxy for socialisation, found little evidence of an effect on party loyalty (Rush and Giddings, 2011, Parliamentary Socialisation: Learning the Ropes or Determining Behaviour? London, Springer). This paper develops a new model of parliamentary socialisation and uses the same data to demonstrate that post-entry socialisation did in fact change legislators reported likeliness to behave in accordance with their party leadership's wishes. Specifically, a framework based on information exchange (advice giving) is used to show that positive interactions with party actors are associated with increased loyalty. Controlling for initial levels of loyalty, members who received more useful advice from party actors were more likely to rate themselves as highly influenced by the party leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue salience of social welfare for disabled people in electoral politics with reference to party manifestos in Westminster and regional elections in the UK. Innovative aspects include mixed methods analysis of multi-tier elections on a cross-cutting issue. The findings reveal an initial post-war clinical-medical approach to welfare and the subsequent emergence of a policy discourse of rights, legal protection and equality as part of growing electoral competition over policy aimed at disabled people. It is argued that the formative role played by party manifestos needs to be incorporated into contemporary study of the politics of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article offers a reappraisal of the performance of Iain Duncan Smith as Conservative Party leader between 2001 and 2003. The rationale for the paper stems from the relative neglect of his leadership by political scientists. The paper argues that to disregard his party leadership tenure is to fail to understand the evolution of Conservative Party politics in the era of New Labour hegemony. Utilising a range of interviews with significant Conservative elites from the era of opposition, Duncan Smith's acquisition of the party leadership and brutal removal from it are reassessed. More significantly, the paper argues that his limitations as a political leader and his poor party management style should not mask the fact that the processes of policy renewal and strategic reorientation initiated under his leadership were important precursors to David Cameron's capacity to push forward his modernisation agenda post-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thirty years on, and in the context of a new crisis, it is time to return to the Winter of Discontent and to the mythology that it has generated. In this paper, I show that the Winter of Discontent was in many respects a manufactured crisis—lived, experienced and responded to through a very particular construction of the events. And I show that such a construction of events is difficult to reconcile with the evidence itself. The Winter of Discontent, I suggest, did mark the passing of Keynesianism, corporatism and the post-war consensus. But it did so not because the events of the winter of 1978–1979 were precipitated by union power nor by the inherent contradictions of the Keynesianism economic paradigm, but because the crisis that it was seen to symbolise was constructed in precisely such terms. Keynesianism's death in Britain was not economically given, but politically orchestrated. The implications of this for our understanding of the present crisis are highly significant and are explored in the final section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues that Charter 88 was fundamentally both the product and catalyser of an ‘aversive’ constitutionalist reaction on the Left and Centre of British politics to the perceived excesses of Thatcherite Conservative rule. Alongside this, other longer term, secular trends were also important including the growth of a postmaterialist politics and the intellectual collapse of Marxism. However, although a number of Charter 88's domestic reforms were implemented by New Labour post-1997, the complete closing of this ‘aversive’ constitutional moment shortly afterwards proved fatal to the continued dynamism of this movement. Despite this, both the Charter's vision of a genuinely pluralist democracy in Britain and its legacy of a renewed vitality in constitutional debate remain potent within the contemporary constitutional reform landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines current and past party membership in Britain by means of a large-scale internet-based survey. It shows that party members differ from voters in being higher status and more educated, but more likely to be retired than the population in general. It examines the differences between the characteristics of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat members, and explores the differences between current and former members. The latter outnumber the former by almost two to one, indicating that the grassroots party organisations are continuing to decline in Britain. This paper then discusses the implications of this finding for British politics, suggesting that while parties at the centre will continue to operate, parties in the community will not fulfil their functions effectively. It then shows that a decline of membership will weaken partisanship in the electorate, and this in turn will undermine the effectiveness of central government in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The House of Lords is recognised as unusual among modern party-dominated parliaments for its method of composition—comprising appointees, hereditary peers and Bishops of the Church of England. However, equally interesting but less often noted is the presence in the chamber of around 200 members who do not take a party whip. Drawn from various walks of life, including the law, civil service, academia, science and the voluntary sector, these 'Crossbenchers' have their own group organisation and ethos. Given their numbers, they potentially hold the balance of power in the chamber. In this paper we examine the backgrounds, organisation and political activity of the Crossbenchers, asking what impact they have on the policy and culture of the House of Lords. We also examine the recent changes in the Crossbench group following reform of the chamber in 1999-including an influx of more active peers, resulting in changing beliefs and style. We find that the Crossbenchers have a subtle and changing influence, much of which is difficult to quantify. Their presence is widely valued, and most proposals for House of Lords reform suggest that an independent element should be retained. But this raises difficult questions about how political independence should be defined, and where such members are to be found. The paper provides some reflections on the challenges to independent membership of modern party-dominated parliaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the abolition of university constituencies in 1950, independent MPs have been a very rare species at Westminster. Martin Bell, elected for Tatton in 1997, was the first mainland Independent MP elected since 1950. Since Bell's election only three other independents have been elected to the House of Commons. The paper explores the voting behaviour of these MPs to examine the nature of independence in the House of Commons and asks whether their votes favour the government, or a particular political party. The paper also considers the relationship between the independent MPs and their constituents to examine if they act as a delegate of those constituents or act as a broader focused 'Burkean' trustee. As Independent MPs do not have a Westminster party machine to support them and to provide information and advice, then, for the Independent, faced with making a personal decision each time they vote, every vote is a free vote. The paper examines how independents obtain the information they need to make informed decisions on how to vote and what other strategies they employ to influence politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that long-serving governments suffer from degenerative tendencies. As New Labour seeks to secure its fourth successive mandate to govern, this paper will advocate a model for analysing those symptoms of degeneration. It will attempt to situate the current circumstances of New Labour within a comparative historical context. It will assess the exhaustion of one-nation Conservatism in the 1960s, the implosion of post-Thatcherite Conservatism in the 1990s and the challenge that New Labour is facing in constructing a post-Blair narrative, against identifiable symptoms of governing degeneration. It will conclude that, although the endgame of the Blair era suggested that there were embryonic signs of governing degeneration, New Labour has not matched the scale of governing degeneration that afflicted the Conservatives in 1963 and 1996. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the state and parliament and government in Great Britain. Publication of parliamentary paper; Role of Select Committee on Procedure; Nature of three reports in publication; Reports from Home Affairs Committee; Status of government reports on developments in European Community; Introduction of Intelligence Services Bill; Inquiry of Treasury and Civil Service Committee; Status of report from Representation of European Parliamentary Constituency.

Examines the extent to which the Citizen's Charter initiative, as embodied in the White Paper of the British government in July 1991, is a mechanism to empower citizens. Main features of charter; Quality and consumerism in public management; Enhancement of quality of citizen's interchange with public sector organizations.

The paper presents a case study of parliamentary voting on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and Act of 2008. It seeks to establish whether MPs with a scientific background voted differently from the wider population of MPs. Patterns of parliamentary voting on this issue providenostrong evidence to suggest thatMPs with a scientific background behaved any differently from MPs without any scientific training on any aspect of the legislation on Human Fertilisation and Embryology passed in 2008. Once controls for party allegiance are applied, scientific training appears to have no independent effect on voting behaviour. This applies even when the issue at stake is the restriction of research and clinical practice. There is also no strong evidence to suggest that MPs with scientific training are more likely to vote on scientific issues or that they are more likely to vote against the grain of their party when they do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using mixed methods this paper explores issue salience and the policy framing associated with the substantive representation of ethnic minorities. Its focus is party programmes in Westminster (1964-2010) and Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections (1998-2011). The analysis reveals a significant increase in issue salience driven by parties of the Left. This applies to both state-wide and meso-elections, thereby providing evidence of political reprioritisation in the wake of ethnic minority activism in the 1970s and 1980s. At the meso-level new political opportunity structures are shown to be leading to the territorialisation of policy. However, the analysis also reveals significant shortcomings, including parties'failure to adopt a systematic approach consistent with the post-1997 discourse on mainstreaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats negotiated and agreed the Coalition's approach to the EU with a view to shed light on how each party exerted influence over this policy area. For that purpose the article analyses how the two parties of the Coalition negotiated the programme of government, agreed on the distribution of government portfolios and have handled three of most divisive European issues faced by the Coalition, namely the European Union Act 2011, the exercise of the veto at the December 2011 EU summit and the announcement of the referendum on EU membership. The article argues that the Conservatives are the drivers of the Coalition's approach to the EU however the Liberal Democrats have acted as navigators ensuring, most of the time, that the agreed roadmap is respected. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the position of special advisers (SpAds) in British government has become routinised, above all since 1997, we still know little about how they affect everyday life at the top of Whitehall departments. This paper, based on the first ever survey of SpAds, explores what they do and how they interact with policy-makers. SpAds fill a mix of ‘commissar’ and ‘fixer’ roles, and there is no evidence of a sharp division of labour between different types of SpAds. The commissar role they fill might be expected to bring SpAds into conflict with civil servants, yet there is surprisingly little evidence of conflict or rivalry. A variety of features of the special adviser's job appear to create incentives among both SpAds and civil servants to avoid conflict with each other. Since the influence of SpAds appears to depend on their relationship with the minister, claims that SpAds are a new, powerful group that shapes policy, are likely to be highly misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal, 232 new MPs were elected to the Westminster Parliament in May 2010: the largest turnover of Members since the Second World War.1 The unique nature of the election and its aftermath presented both great opportunities and real challenges for the orientation, induction and continuous professional development of new Members.2 This paper explores how the House of Commons sought to respond to those challenges and opportunities. It examines what support was made available to new Members by House of Commons officials, the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, as well as outside bodies, including the Hansard Society, in the months immediately after the election. It assesses the success of this provision and what lessons can be learnt from Westminster's experience for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws on the 2009/2010 British Election Survey to explore the political engagement of young people in Britain in the context of social change. Focusing on political involvement, attitudes and priorities, we examine contrasting generational perspectives in the context of an election centred on a range of issues that had the potential to stimulate the interest of younger voters. While clear generational differences in engagement exist, there are also age-related similarities in attitudes towards involvement. In terms of political priorities, differences suggest a conflict of interests in which generations construct political agendas in ways that reflect an interest in securing personal advantage of their own segment of the electorate at the expense of others. Further, there is a structural problem relating to young people's political participation stemming partly from a lack of effective representation and partly linked to a failure to appreciate the ways in which socio-economic changes have impacted on the lives of the younger generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people populate a uniquely strategic position within society in general and particularly in party political debate about the future development of citizenship and the national community. Political parties in the UK have however been historically reluctant to engage with young people or represent their interests in the formulation of policies, instead prioritising older voters. However, the political resonance of issues linked to youth citizenship and democratic engagement has risen recently as political parties have sought to address steep declines in levels of civic and civil activism and the preparedness of young people to vote in elections. This paper explores the emerging party politics associated with such shifts, assessing the extent to which political parties have sought to reform how they engage with young people or reassert traditional modes of citizenship and political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the core of David Cameron's vision for revitalising both the UK and the Conservative party is what he describes as the Big Society. The concept calls for a restructuring of the relationship between state and society, with a substantial movement of power and responsibility from the former to the latter. Alongside a larger role for social enterprises, charities and voluntary organisations in the provision of services, the Big Society also plans for a substantial transfer of control to ordinary citizens, coming together to provide for their own communities. The paper traces some of the antecedents of the Big Society and evaluates the current health of public voluntary activity in the UK. Serious challenges surround both the health of the Third Sector in an environment of public spending cuts and the extent to which the public will be willing to participate in Big Society initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition government has announced its intention to hold a referendum on the possible introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV) for future elections to the House of Commons. This paper uses survey data from the 2010 British Election Study to simulate what the effects on the seat distribution in the House of Commons would have been if AV had operated in May 2010. The results suggest an outcome for the three main parties of Conservatives 284, Labour 248 and Liberal Democrats 89. This outcome would have radically changed the arithmetic of post-election coalition building, with the Liberal Democrats being able to form a majority coalition with either Labour or the Conservatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Wales is one of the principal cases in Europe where the stateless nation enjoys relatively high levels of identification relative to the state, and is a key focus for addressing identity politics in the UK following devolution in 1997–1999. However, the development and political consequences of Welshness and Britishness are currently relatively neglected in the research literature. This article explores these issues in relation to post-devolution Wales. Part one examines survey evidence on national identities, governmental reference to identity in policy development, and public attitudes to constitutional reform. Part two examines the approaches of the political parties, as key agents of identity politics, to Welshness and Britishness in their political strategies. Overall, the paper argues that since 1999 civic Welshness has become predominant in public discourse and support for further devolution has grown. The political parties have all converged on the politics of a civic Welshness in their political strategies. At the same time the underlying extent of identification with Welshness and Britishness since devolution has in fact changed little and the increased assertion of Welshness has not led to a rise in support for independence. Devolution appears to have both enhanced Welsh identity loyalties as a framework for political life and sustained a stable basis for Wales within the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the complex and ambiguous relationship between Charter 88, its philosophy of democratic constitutionalism and the Europeanisation of the UK. On the one hand, increased European linkages have proved helpful to the achievement of many of the Charter's domestic goals. Nevertheless, the modalities of European political integration sit in a relationship of tension with the Charter's democratic constitutionalist philosophy. As an organisation, Charter/Unlock Democracy has shown only a limited awareness of this tension and, in particular, has failed to appreciate the considerable difficulties of creating a genuine demos at the European level. This article argues that democratic constitutionalism would best be served a more modest and focused EU which respects popular sovereignty and matches its competences to those legitimately managed by transnational governance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The internet has created opportunities to restructure communication between MPs and constituents and has led to an increase in opportunity and, in some cases, motivation for MPs to communicate online. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 168 MPs and a subsequent focus group of MPs and parliamentary staff. The research shows that email has become a ubiquitous tool of choice for most MPs and it is clearly perceived as a valuable tool for keeping in touch with constituents. The research describes both the rise of social networking and the reticence of MPs to adopt blogging; which is seen as a negative space and scatterun tool. The findings show that, where adopted, digital media can and does change the relationship between MPs and their constituents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Westminster Parliament has been prompted to develop an e-Petitions system in light of the fact that similar tools are now well established in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. The Number Ten e-Petitions site, too, has proved inspirational although discussions within Westminster about the development of a comparable system have focused on the risks associated with it. This paper describes the momentum towards a Westminster-based e-Petitions system, highlighting the dilemmas that have emerged during discussions about the form it should take: should Westminster try to replicate the popular style of the Number Ten website and risk inundation with Parliamentary graffiti? Or would it be better to develop a system that ties in with Parliamentary processes-and do these processes themselves need to change? We discuss the move towards e-Petitions in the context of broader debates about e-Democracy and its role in revitalising political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are we to interpret judicial reform under New Labour? What are its implications for democracy? This paper argues that the reforms are part of a broader process of juridification. The Westminster model, as derived from Dicey, upheld a concept of parliamentary sovereignty that gives a misleading account of the role of the judiciary. Juridification has arisen along with new theories and new worlds of governance that both highlight and intensify the limitations of the Westminster model so conceived. New Labour's judicial reforms are attempts to address problems associated with the new governance. Ironically, however, the reforms are themselves constrained by a lingering commitment to an increasingly out-dated Westminster model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elections held during May 2007 in England and Scotland for the first time allowed accredited observers access to polling stations and counts. This provided an opportunity for detailed scrutiny of the use of e-voting and e-counting equipment in these elections. This article assesses the use of these technologies using observations from 10 constituencies and data obtained using Freedom of Information Act requests, interviews with officials, candidates and parties and reports on previous trials. It finds that inadequate time was available during the procurement process for cross-party consensus to be built around the English e-voting trials or for systems to be fully tested. Design errors meant that a very large number of Scottish ballots were spoiled, while problems with ballot papers required a large number of votes to be counted manually. Votes initially missed due to an over-wide Excel spreadsheet changed the result in the Highlands and Islands and handed control of the Scottish Parliament from the Labour party to the Scottish National Party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In common with many western democracies, the UK seems to face a crisis in public political participation. Turnout has fallen dramatically, particularly in recent general elections, faith in the political system is stretched and citizens feel they are not consulted nor their views taken seriously by the government. The search is on for a way out of the potential crisis. A recent major report by the Rowntree-funded Power Commission offers a diagnosis of the problem of political participation in modern Britain and suggests a strategy to remedy it. In this paper, we critically assess some of the Commission's major analyses and recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Sir Alistair Graham, the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life in Great Britain, has accused Culture Minister Tessa Jowell of breaching the ministerial code of conduct due to her knowledge of and involvement in the financial activities of her husband. In response to this issue, British Prime Minister Tony Blair showed support to Jowell and stated that he had final responsibility for the conduct of any minister.

The article focuses on the keenness of the British government to promote political participation and strengthen democratic practices through the use of Internet-based technologies. Worthy to note is the fact that indeed the National Local E-democracy project and the Department for Constitutional Affairs' Innovations Fund in Great Britain have greatly help in the funding towards the development of e-democracy tools within a governmental framework.

Focuses on the modernization of the local government in Great Britain. Changes in the political management structure for local democracy enhancement and improved public services; Implication of the process of democratic renewal; Introduction of the local Public Service Agreements.

The Public Accounts Committee is the oldest and, reputedly, most influential oversight committee in the British parliament. Since 2012, the government has published an unprecedented volume of data explaining its actions in response to the PAC's inquiries. By tracking all 615 of the Committee's recommendations from 2010 to 2012 across the first 14 of these 'progress reports', we explore how effectively this novel reporting mechanism serves to inform parliament about the executive's responsiveness to scrutiny. We find the reports to yield rich data on the fate of many individual recommendations, but only limited information on the overall timeliness and quality of implementation. Flexibilities and inconsistencies in reporting style also make the arrangements vulnerable to gaming. We identify potential improvements and research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government's decision to establish the Women and Equalities Committee in 2015 redressed an institutional deficit at Westminster—the lack of a Departmental Select Committee holding the Women's Minister and Government Equalities Office to account. This 'effective' reform was by no means a foregone conclusion, however. A feminist institutionalist (FI) approach demonstrates the limitations of traditional accounts of institutional change in accounting for this reform. With greater analytical space given to women's agency and introducing the concept of gendered parliamentarianism, FI captures the gendered constraints and conducive conditions that marked this moment of parliamentary re-gendering: identifying the critical role of women MPs; the new relations between them and women parliamentary Clerks and officials and the wider—crucially gendered—(extra) parliamentary actors and dynamics in play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the impact of the liberal-environmentalist movement on political parties in Great Britain. Influence on the parties; Liberal-Democrats' affinity with the movement; Conservative Party; Labour Party.

The article presents an overview of the documents used by the British Parliament to fulfill their public expenditure duties. The Autumn Statement provides a summary of economic prospects for the given year and an outline of public expenditure for each department which include separate sections on nationalized industries and local authorities and tables that showed the effects of tax changes. The Supply Estimates offered data for whatever the Parliament has to authorize in July or August each year through the Appropriation Act while the Appropriation Accounts gave details of the amounts spent compared to the sum given by the Parliament along with explanations of the difference between estimated and actual expenditure.

The article discusses the British politics of energy conservation and industrial interests. This paper focuses on the potential of energy conservation and the technical capabilities of Britain. It tries to clarify the small attention given to the issue despite the government's reported spending of 35-billion-pound and an excess of seven billion in unnecessary waste of budget. The Association for the Conservation of Energy, a conservationist group which advocates for promotion of conservation causes is actively in the forefront for other organizations and companies involved in conservation and reduction of energy demand.

This article argues that the transparency regime regulating the activities of lobbyists in the UK and the devolved administrations fails to address the core problems of political lobbying and should be replaced. This is particularly important following Brexit because the regulatory landscape will change significantly in the years to come. The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 establishes a registry-based system of regulating lobbyists seeking to communicate with the government in Westminster. The Scotland (Lobbying) Act 2016 establishes a similar system, with calls for a lobbying register in Wales also growing. Analyses of existing laws reveal several flaws with those registry-based systems resulting in inadequate levels of transparency. To remedy the shortfall and to get transparency right, this article argues for two changes. First, a more robust register for professional lobbyists premised on greater transparency that is harmonised for Westminster and the devolved administrations. Secondly, the creation of a centralised public website acting as the official forum for advocacy tied to specific legislative proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chilcot report set out in detail its finding that the Blair Government had been prone to groupthink in its decision-making processes when leading Britain into the Iraq War. Subsequent British prime ministers have been in no hurry to change their style of governing in ways that might broaden decision-making circles and introduce the 'challenge' that Chilcot said had been lacking. This article draws on the literature on the psychology of group decision-making to examine the extent to which groupthink remains embedded in the processes of cabinet government in the UK. The article argues that the strongest driver of groupthink is the psychological disposition towards conflict of individual prime ministers. Drawing on interviews with ministers, civil servants and special advisers we suggest that the political authority of the prime minister interacts with their psychological predisposition towards debate to encourage groupthink, polythink or a more positive style of 'vigilant' decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside the growth of online campaigning has been an increased anxiety around its effects on democratic institutions and processes. Many have suggested that in a (new) media environment that privileges choice, citizens will increasingly segment themselves into echo chambers, tuning out dissenting voices. But the debate on the existence of echo chambers is mixed, and the extent to which political parties campaign to easily persuadable (and pre-disposed) electorates is unclear. In this article, we present a case study of the Facebook campaign activity of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats at the UK's parliamentary general election in 2019. Utilising an analysis of the Facebook Ad Archive's Graph Application Programming Interface (API), we find that political parties do not consistently campaign to their easily persuadable electorates—often chasing votes as much as they mobilise supporters. The evidence that parties campaign to specific echo chambers online is therefore, at best, mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the papers featured in the January 2006 issue of the periodical "Parliamentary Affairs," including a one by retired British Labour legislator Tam Dalyell, which looks back on how the country came to participate in the invasion of Iraq.