Table showing the number of public bills introduced by session in each parliament since 1997 and the number that gained Royal Assent, becoming Acts of Parliament.
This Paper brings together recent European Union legislative and regulatory developments in the sphere of financial or corporate regulation. It provides relevant UK context and activity. It also includes a checklist of EU regulations currently being implemented across the EU with links to further information or explanation.
Saudi Arabia and allied states have imposed a blockade on Qatar in protest against its foreign policy. Could it lead to the closure of Al-Jazeera, or even the end of the Gulf Cooperation Council as we know it?
The government gets Parliament's consent to spend money via the annual Estimates process. This note describes the decisions made by government departments when drafting their Estimates, the process that Parliament goes through to scrutinise and approve them, and some possible ways in which the process could be improved.
What is an EU (Approvals) Bill and why is one needed now? This Bill concerns draft EU proposals concerning Albania and Serbia participating as observers in the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency, and an agreement between the EU and Canada on competition laws. This paper provides background on the proposals and explains why an Act of Parliament is needed for the UK Government to approve them in the Council of the European Union.
Key Issues 2017 is a series of short briefings on the topics that will take centre stage in UK and international politics in the new Parliament. Written by impartial Commons Library specialists, these articles are designed to help the reader get up to speed quickly on issues such as; Brexit, the housing crisis, the future of devolution and much more.
Counter-extremism policy has evolved over the past few years with an increasing focus on addressing non-violent extremism. In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, which includes counter-extremism, has come to the fore of the agenda. On 21 June 2017, the Queen’s Speech announced the establishment of a new Commission for Countering Extremism, as well as a review of counter-terrorism powers and a commitment to tackling online extremist content. Counter-extremism will undoubtedly be a crucial issue for the new Parliament, which will face difficult questions about how to tackle this complex problem.
This note gives a short description of the statutory procedure for the assessment of media mergers, before providing a timeline of events to NewsCorp's bid for BSkyB in 2010-11, and the company’s decision in June 2011 to withdraw that bid in response to the public outcry over the phone hacking scandal.
The Queen’s Speech 2017 announced plans for an Armed Forces (Flexible Working) Bill. This short paper looks at what we know so far about the Bill. The Library will produce a full briefing paper on the Bill for its Second Reading in the House of Commons.