Government

Parliament Matters

Join two of the UK’s leading parliamentary experts, Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox, as they guide you through the often mysterious ways our politicians do business and explore the running controversies about the way Parliament works. Each week they will analyse how laws are made and ministers held accountable by the people we send to Westminster. They will be debating the topical issues of the day, looking back at key historical events and discussing the latest research on democracy and Parliament. Why? Because whether it’s the taxes you pay, or the laws you’ve got to obey… Parliament matters!

Mark D’Arcy was the BBC’s parliamentary correspondent for two decades. Ruth Fox is the Director of the parliamentary think-tank the Hansard Society.

❓ Submit your questions on all things Parliament to Mark and Ruth via our website here: hansardsociety.org.uk/pm#qs
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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Founding producer Luke Boga Mitchell; episode producer Richard Townsend.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

Taking on Big Tech: Beeban Kidron on the art of legislating Nov 10, 2026

Show notes

How do you turn a campaign into law when some of the world’s richest companies are determined to stop you?

Filmmaker and crossbench peer Baroness Beeban Kidron joins us to discuss the art of legislating for the digital world. From protecting children online to defending creators’ copyright against AI companies, she explains how she built support, won amendments and persuaded reluctant ministers to act.

But winning a vote is only part of the battle. Kidron contrasts her experience of the children’s privacy code with Ofcom’s implementation of the Online Safety Act, arguing that Parliament needs stronger powers to hold regulators to its intentions.

She also describes Big Tech’s tactics for resisting regulation, the pressure to back down during parliamentary “ping-pong”, and why she rejects the claim that technology moves too fast for lawmakers.

Her new book is Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:00 From filmmaking to campaigning

04:00 Turning children’s rights into legislation

09:00 Winning amendments and building support

13:00 Delegated legislation and regulatory accountability

18:00 Can Parliament keep up with technology?

22:00 Challenging “tech exceptionalism”

27:00 Reforming Parliament’s legislative machinery

32:00 Big Tech’s resistance playbook

40:00 AI, copyright and celebrity allies

43:00 Parliamentary ping-pong: when should peers give way?

47:00 Is the political tide turning against Big Tech?

51:00 Book details and closing remarks

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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inside the new Congress Nov 06, 2026

Show notes

Winning the election is one thing. Making Congress work is another. How will the Democrats now turn electoral success into effective congressional power to constrain Donald Trump and advance their own policy agenda?

Daniel Schuman of the American Governance Institute joins us to explain how the new Congress will organise itself between election day and January, when the new House of Representatives and Senate are sworn in.

The outgoing “lame duck” Congress faces the prospect of last-minute confirmation battles and an urgent funding deadline if a government shutdown before Christmas is to be avoided. Next year will bring fresh battles over the budget and spending.

Meanwhile, incoming representatives must recruit staff, establish offices and learn the ropes of an unfamiliar institution.

For Democrats, there are decisions to be made about leadership positions, who gets coveted committee places, and agree the rules that will govern the House.

Their choices will shape whose priorities advance, who can block them and how effectively the party can work together. Daniel explains how these internal party bargains distribute power and why a stronger Speaker may not mean a stronger Congress.

The conversation examines Democratic factions, Congress’s strongest levers, especially appropriations, and the limits of oversight, subpoenas, contempt and impeachment when an administration resists compliance and courts take time.

Then comes the confrontation with the White House. Can lawmakers use the power of the purse to curb Trump’s foreign adventures and reinstate support for Ukraine?

Could the Senate block appointments to the courts and federal agencies? And how should committees balance investigating the administration with advancing legislation that delivers for voters?

We explore what happens if officials refuse to testify, why contempt proceedings can stall, and how immunity, presidential pardons and lengthy court battles complicate accountability.

Daniel offers a stark assessment of checks and balances under strain: Congress has formidable powers on paper, but making them work depends on more than an election victory.

From induction to internal bargaining, this is a guide to the decisions, procedures and pressure points that will determine what the new Congress can achieve and where its limits lie.

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00:00 Introduction: Inside the new Congress

01:49 Why the outgoing Congress stays in power

03:39 Shutdown deadlines and last-minute Supreme Court appointments

07:16 Learning the job: How new representatives are inducted

10:40 New Congress, new House rules: An opening for reform?

15:32 Who runs the House? The Speaker, committees and members

19:50 The Democrats’ internal battles: Factions, leadership and reform

23:10 What powers can Congress use against Trump?

26:09 Ukraine funding and the limits of impeachment

27:35 The power of the purse: How spending deals get made

30:07 Investigations, subpoenas and officials who refuse to cooperate

33:40 Investigate or legislate? Delivering the Democrats’ agenda

36:54 Immunity, pardons and running down the clock

40:03 Can America’s checks and balances be repaired?

43:46 Blocking nominees and debating Supreme Court reform

47:08 A crisis moment: What happens when presidential power defies the rules?

48:00 Our next episode: Baroness Kidron talks about her work at the centre of parliamentary efforts to regulate the online world

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Order! Order! Nusrat Ghani on how she keeps MPs in line during the Budget debate Oct 30, 2026

Show notes

How do you keep order when the House of Commons is packed, passions are running high and the country is watching?

Deputy Speaker Nusrat Ghani joins us for an exclusive interview the morning after chairing the Budget debate. She takes us inside the preparation, nerves and split-second decisions involved in managing one of Parliament’s biggest occasions.

From spotting where trouble might erupt to using eye contact and humour to keep MPs in line, she explains how she balances authority with allowing the Chamber to express itself. She reflects on her experience of John Bercow’s approach, why she wants to avoid undermining MPs’ confidence, and what occupying the historic Chair means to her and her family. And could chairing the Budget be an audition for the speakership?

Beyond the Chair, we assess a Budget that offered breathing room but postponed bigger decisions. What should select committees do now to test the Government’s spending promises?

We also untangle the curious case of Nigel Farage’s missing prayer card: does losing your reserved seat really prevent you from attending the Budget? And why were details of an energy announcement shared with Martin Lewis before Parliament heard them?

Finally, we reveal a proposal buried in the Budget paperwork to downgrade parliamentary scrutiny of future changes to tax-clearance rules for major investment projects. With 108 Ways and Means motions awaiting approval, what else might MPs miss in the small print?

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Support the Hansard Society and Parliament Matters by making a donation.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Budget: Who checks the Chancellor? Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

How do you respond to a Budget you’ve only just heard, and spot what the Chancellor would rather you missed? Treasury Committee Chair Meg Hillier joins us to explain how she prepares for Budget day and how her Committee tests the promises behind the headlines. She weighs the benefits of Budget secrecy against the risk of policies going untested, argues for tougher scrutiny of sensitive defence spending, and explains why Parliament needs to look beyond the annual set piece event to how public money is actually spent. Her central challenge: can MPs and ministers give long-term financial choices the attention they deserve?

The Chancellor’s speech is only the beginning. Ruth and Mark offer a “cut out and keep” guide to what happens next: the days of Budget debate, the Ways and Means resolutions and the Finance Bill that turns the announcements into law. How can some tax changes take effect that very night? What can MPs amend and how does the Government limit their options? It’s your essential companion to following the Budget through the Commons.

Beyond the Budget, we discuss Darren Jones’s striking evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. His account of trying to make Whitehall work across departmental boundaries raises an uncomfortable question: are constitutional safeguards protecting accountability, or being used to resist change? From funding the Government’s missions to getting departments’ financial systems to talk to one another, he describes a system in which even apparently straightforward reforms become a battle. Jones argues that senior civil servants have become more political without facing sufficient parliamentary scrutiny. But where should responsibility lie when ministers’ ambitions collide with officials’ advice about what the constitution permits? We explore his challenge to Whitehall’s accountability arrangements and his concerns about scrutiny of increasingly powerful mayors.

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Gareth Jones

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parliament under pressure: Select committees in the age of lawfare Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

Are House of Commons select committees equipped to meet the new challenges facing parliamentary scrutiny? Liam Byrne, the Labour former minister leading a review of the committee system, joins us to explore whether committees have the powers, resources and support they need in the modern scrutiny environment.

Among his concerns is the increasing use of “lawfare” to force the disclosure of information provided by whistleblowers who give evidence to committees. How can Parliament protect witnesses from retaliation? And does the Commons have adequate powers to compel people to appear and obtain the documents its committees need?

With Andy Burnham promising closer ties with the EU, is it time to reinvent the European Scrutiny Committee? Could Westminster learn from New Zealand by setting aside a week for committees to examine departmental public spending? And does Parliament need a parliamentary budget office to help MPs interrogate the public finances and the cost of policy choices? It would not come cheap, Liam acknowledges, but he argues that it looks increasingly necessary.

Plus, how has the Burnham factor reshaped British politics? As MPs return to Westminster after the conference season, we explore how the shifting balance of power could play out in Parliament. The new Prime Minister has set out ambitious long-term goals. But he already has a commanding Commons majority. How might he use it?

We finish with some unsolicited advice for Ed Davey. Facing criticism that the Liberal Democrats have made too little impact since the election, how could he use his 72 MPs – the party’s largest-ever contingent – to make a bigger splash at Westminster?

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Gareth Jones

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is No Way to Run a Country: A conversation with former veterans minister Johnny Mercer Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer joins us to discuss his new book, No Way to Run a Country: An Outsider’s Journey into the Heart of our Broken Politics, and his struggle to change veterans’ policy from inside Westminster and Whitehall.

Mercer entered Parliament after serving in Afghanistan, determined to improve support for former service personnel. He recalls arriving with little knowledge of parliamentary politics, the unexpected impact of his maiden speech, and how he used his role on the Defence Select Committee and the media to press for change.

He takes us behind the scenes at Prime Minister’s Questions: what happens when an MP is chosen to ask a question, and why do so many use the opportunity to ask a planted question? He explains why select committees offered him a more effective way to hold people to account than exchanges in the Commons Chamber, and how party discipline and the pursuit of ministerial office can shape an MP’s choices.

Mercer also explains why he fought to establish an Office for Veterans’ Affairs outside the Ministry of Defence, and how political instability helped him win commitments from successive Prime Ministers. He is candid about the relationships he damaged, the mistakes he made, and what he learned about working with people whose priorities differed from his own.

Finally, he offers his prescription for a more effective Parliament, assesses the current government’s approach to veterans and the Northern Ireland legacy debate, and considers whether he would ever return to politics and Parliament.

🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

❓ Send us your questions about Parliament:

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📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety / @hansardsociety.bsky.social

£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PMQs: Parliament Matters Questions Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Recorded at Queen Mary University of London as part of Student Week, welcoming students at the start of the new academic year, this special live edition features three expert guests: historian Dr Robert Saunders; Private Members’ Bill specialist Dr Daniel Gover; and historian Dr Catherine Haddon, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and former Queen Mary student.

The panel begins by assessing the new Burnham Government. Has the Prime Minister’s more optimistic, personable style marked a substantive break with Keir Starmer or merely improved the presentation? They consider the fiscal and geopolitical constraints facing the Government; Burnham’s management of Labour MPs; the balance of power among senior ministers and advisers; relations with the civil service; and whether experience as a metro mayor is useful preparation for Downing Street.

The students then put the questions. Should Britain cap political donations after Reform UK received unprecedented sums from two billionaires, and would retrospective legislation be justified? Is the emerging five-party system here to stay, and can Parliament’s rules properly accommodate smaller parties? Will social media displace traditional journalism, or make trusted scrutiny and fact-checking more important?

The discussion also covers whether Parliament has too many recesses; the tension between national infrastructure needs and local opposition; devolution, separatism and the future of the Union; and reform of Private Members’ Bills. Finally, the panel recommends essential reading for students of Parliament, from political diaries and Anthony Trollope to contemporary accounts by Rory Stewart and Jess Phillips.

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Sound mixing: Matthew Kowalczuk, Queen Mary University of London

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MPs reject the assisted dying bill: What happened, and what next? Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

MPs have rejected the assisted dying bill – but why did a proposal they had previously supported lose this time, and what happens now?

Andrew Lewin MP, a supporter of the bill, hot-foots it from the Chamber to give us his immediate reaction. He describes the atmosphere when the result was announced, offers his explanation for the bill’s defeat and considers whether and how the campaign to change the law might continue.

Back in the studio, Hansard Society researcher Matthew England joins us to crunch the numbers. Turnout proved crucial to the final result: was the bill defeated because MPs changed their minds, or because previous supporters stayed away?

We explore why support has slowly ebbed in the Commons and examine the substantive and procedural problems that confronted the bill.

Could there now be a backlash against the House of Lords over the role Peers played in derailing the legislation? Might the Commons seek to curb the Upper House’s powers or was the Lords simply doing its job by scrutinising a deeply consequential and technically complex bill? And with this latest proposal defeated, is assisted dying now off Parliament’s agenda for the foreseeable future?

Plus, Nigel Farage told Reform UK’s conference that he would declare a “national emergency” over the small boats crisis. But would such a declaration actually give a Prime Minister any additional legislative powers? And Lee Anderson accused MPs of being lazy and suggested that, under a Reform government, Parliament would sit seven days a week to force through its legislative programme. What would that mean in practice for the management – and, more importantly, the scrutiny – of parliamentary business? Would MPs, officials and the wider parliamentary machinery be able to sustain it? And even if legislation were driven rapidly through the Commons, what would happen when it reached the House of Lords?

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Burnham’s rewired state: Can Parliament provide the circuit breaker? Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

Andy Burnham made his despatch box debut as Prime Minister in the House of Commons this week with one of the longest ministerial statements on record and a promise to strengthen the Prime Minister’s grip on Whitehall while transferring power and resources away from it.

We examine the new Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and No. 10 North. Are they instruments of genuine decentralisation or a more powerful prime-ministerial centre with a Manchester outpost? If Burnham wants Parliament to become the country’s “circuit breaker”, what powers, information and resources will MPs need to do the job?

We also ask whether “Parliament, not the courts” means clearer ministerial responsibility or executive power that is harder to challenge and what it all might mean for the future of judicial review. And will devolution without stronger scrutiny simply create powerful mayors and council leaders with weak legislative checks?

Plus: Keir Starmer leaves Parliament, Labour MPs contest three select committee chairships, and more than 6,000 written parliamentary questions land after the summer recess. At an estimated £219 each, why are a handful of MPs generating such a large bill and is it time for a recess cap?

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🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

❓ Send us your questions about Parliament:

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£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joanna Cherry: The SNP, Westminster, and a decade of political battles Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

Joanna Cherry joins us this week to discuss her newly published memoir, in which she looks back on some of the most contentious battles in British and Scottish politics in the last two decades.

She arrived at Westminster in 2015 as one of 56 SNP MPs elected in a historic landslide that transformed Scottish politics and made the SNP the third-largest party in the House of Commons. She describes the excitement – and occasional hostility – that greeted the new contingent and explains why her experience at Westminster left her believing that the Scottish Parliament could learn a lot from the Commons, particularly when it comes to cross-party working, debate, dissent, and committee scrutiny.

One of the central arguments of Cherry’s memoir is that the SNP repeatedly failed to exploit moments of political leverage and that it pursued the wrong strategy for securing another Scottish independence referendum after the loss in 2014. She sets out what she thinks the party could have done differently and why she believes support for independence has now become increasingly detached from support for the SNP itself.

Her national profile grew dramatically during the Brexit years. As a constitutional lawyer, Cherry became the lead petitioner in the Scottish legal challenge to Boris Johnson’s 2019 prorogation of Parliament. She explains why the case was brought in Scotland, why she believed the challengers would ultimately win, and what it felt like when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the prorogation unlawful.

The conversation also turns to the bitter internal disputes that marked Cherry’s later years in the SNP. She discusses her relationship with Nicola Sturgeon, her concerns about the SNP’s governance and finances, the treatment of her former mentor Alex Salmond, and the fierce arguments over reform of Scotland’s gender recognition laws.

Having lost her seat at Westminster in 2024 and subsequently left the SNP, is Joanna Cherry finished with frontline politics? Perhaps not. She doesn’t rule out a return under a new party leader and a new culture of independent thinking.

🎓 Learn more using our resources for the issues mentioned in this episode.

❓ Send us your questions about Parliament:

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📱 Follow us across social media @HansardSociety / @hansardsociety.bsky.social

£ - Support the Hansard Society and this podcast by making a donation today.

Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.