Who's nicer - Lords or MPs?
👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈
The two baronesses of the podcast finally lift the lid on the House of Lords in this special Q&A episode. What's it really like on the red benches in parliament? And if you're a Lord, are you a has-been?
Also - was Tony Blair actually cool in the 90s? Or was it just a more optimistic time in politics?
Come and join us LIVE on Tuesday 20th May at Cadogan Hall in London, tickets available now:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Reform 'set to repeal assisted dying legislation in next general election' if it passes through Lords
Reform UK would pledge to repeal the legalisation of assisted dying at the next election, The Mail on Sunday understands. Nigel Farage 's party is expected to promise to reverse the law in its next manifesto, assuming the legislation passes in the Lords. On Friday MPs narrowly voted the Bill through by 23 votes – 32 fewer than when they backed it in principle in November. Under the current plans, assisted dying would not be available until 2029, giving opposition parties a window to reverse it, sources said. Mr Farage and two other Reform MPs voted against the private member's Bill on Friday. His deputy Richard Tice and newest MP Sarah Pochin voted for it. The Reform leader has said: 'I voted against the assisted dying Bill, not out of a lack of compassion, but because I fear that the law will widen in scope. If that happens, the right to die may become the obligation to die.' He also described the Bill as 'un-Christian in every way'. Campaigners against legalising assisted dying are hopeful the Bill will be prevented from becoming law in the House of Lords. A campaign source said: 'Bearing in mind how dangerous this Bill will be for vulnerable people, it's not unreasonable for different political parties to think about what might need to happen if it does become law. 'If the leadership of a party is of the view that the legal status quo is dangerous, it would only be natural for them to want to scrap the system.' It is also understood Reform would pledge to repeal the decriminalisation of abortion at any stage of pregnancy, voted through last week. An insider said: 'Each party will have to state its position on abortion and assisted dying in their manifestos. The election is an opportunity to reverse them both.' The change to abortion laws will mean women who terminate their pregnancy after 24 weeks will no longer be at risk of police investigation. The law would still penalise anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion outside the 24-week legal framework. Mr Farage said after the vote: 'I am pro-choice, but I think it's ludicrous that we can allow abortion up to 24 weeks.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Assisted dying puts price on my head, says disabled peer Lord Kevin Shinkwin as he speaks out against the bill
A DISABLED peer said he fears he would not be alive today if assisted dying was already legal. Lord Kevin Shinkwin said the Terminally Ill Adults Bill 'puts a price on my head' and he would have felt pressure to agree to having a lethal injection over fear of being a burden. 1 The Tory's warning comes as campaigners vow to fight the assisted dying bill in the Lords after MPs narrowly backed it by just 23 votes on Friday. Lord Shinkwin, 54, is a disability rights campaigner who has a severe form of brittle bone disease. He said: 'I am a disabled person. I cost the NHS, over the course of my lifetime, probably several million pounds to keep me alive. 'This Bill would put a price on my head — on the head of so many disabled people.' Asked if he feared he would not be alive today if the assisted dying law was in force, Lord Shinkwin said: 'I think you have hit the nail on the head. "Absolutely. I was in intensive care a few months ago, and had a doctor come over to me when I was extremely vulnerable and said, 'Have you considered assisted dying?', I would have felt under real pressure to do that.' Lord Shinkwin said he and other peers will now amend the Bill so it has greater safeguards. As it is a private member's Bill and not a government initiative, some peers are vowing to try to block it altogether. ASSISTED DYING VOTE What Happens Next? - With the Commons backing the Bill, it now moves to the House of Lords for detailed debate and scrutiny. - Peers can suggest amendments, which would send the Bill back to the Commons — a process known as 'ping pong'. - But because this is a major conscience issue, the unelected Lords are unlikely to block it outright after it passed the elected House. - Supporters hope it will win final approval and receive Royal Assent by October, officially becoming law. - A four-year implementation period will follow, allowing time to establish the new system, including expert panels and regulatory safeguards.
ITV News
an hour ago
- ITV News
Health Secretary says Asissted dying will take 'time and money' away from the NHS
Wes Streeting has warned that legalising assisted dying would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the health service. The Health Secretary, who opposed the legislation in the Commons, said better end-of-life care was needed to prevent terminally ill people feeling they had no alternative but to end their own life. Streeting, writing on his Facebook page, said he could not ignore the concerns 'about the risks that come with this Bill' raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups. The Government is neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday. Streeting, who was one of the most senior opponents of the legislation, said: 'Gordon Brown wrote this week that 'there is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option, the freedom to draw on high-quality end-of-life care, is not available. "Neither is there real freedom to choose if, as many fear, patients will feel under pressure to relieve their relatives of the burden of caring for them, a form of coercion that prioritising good end-of-life care would diminish.' He is right. 'The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money. 'Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. 'There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one.' Streeting said his Department of Health and Social Care 'will continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill' as it goes through the House of Lords. Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen urged peers not to block the landmark legislation. Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. 'They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. 'Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose. 'So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.' Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to 'buzz off to Zurich' to use the Dignitas clinic. Paralympian and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told BBC Breakfast: 'We're getting ready for it to come to the Lords and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger. 'We've been told it's the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not a very high bar for other legislation. 'So I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.'
