Research Briefing
The Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill is part of a process to stabilise the political institutions in Northern Ireland. It stems from a package agreed between the UK and Irish Governments and the largest Northern Ireland parties: the Fresh Start agreement. This paper gives a guide to the Bill, and to the agreement.
Research Briefing
This is a briefing on the ‘Motion to approve a European document relating to restrictive measures against Iran’, which is due to be debated in the main chamber of the House on Tuesday 24 November 2015.
Research Briefing
The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, published in November 2015, seeks to update and consolidate the legal framework governing the interception of communications and the acquisition of communications data by intelligence and law enforcement agencies
Research Briefing
This page has been prepared by the House of Commons Library to provide information on the Local Government Finance (Tenure Information) Bill 2015-16 which is scheduled to receive its Second Reading on 22 January 2016 (initially 30 October 2015).
Research Briefing
A short introduction to the forthcoming 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review and the Armed Forces.
Research Briefing
This morning, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published new earnings data showing differences in pay across parliamentary constituencies, as illustrated in the map below. The Median weekly pay of full-time employees was highest for people living in London (at £621 per week in April 2015) and lowest in Yorkshire and the Humber (£481 per
Research Briefing
On 26 October 2015 the Government was defeated in the House of Lords following a debate on its proposed changes to tax credits. The Chancellor responded that the Government would “continue to reform tax credits and save the money needed so that Britain lives within its means, while at the same time lessening the impact
Research Briefing
Summer Budget 2015 included proposals to reduce the income threshold for tax credits – the amount families can earn before their award starts to reduce – and to increase the “taper” – the rate at which tax credits are withdrawn as family income increases – from 41% to 48%. The changes were to have taken
Research Briefing
In response to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris France invoked Article 42(7) of the Treaty in the European Union on 17 November 2015. That article obligates all EU Member States to provide France with aid and assistance, although it does not go so far as to confer a security commitment, akin to NATO's Article V. This paper looks briefly at Article 42(7) TEU and the implications for the UK.
Research Briefing
"Ever closer union" is an EU aim and is enshrined in the EU Treaties. David Cameron wanted to exempt the UK from it, and this has been achieved in the new settlement for the UK in the EU. This note looks at the background to “ever closer union”, its survival through several Treaty changes and its use by the EU Court of Justice.
Research Briefing
The House of Commons is debating a Backbench Business motion on 16 November 2015 that calls for the Cypriot city of Famagusta to be returned by Turkey to its ‘lawful inhabitants’.
Research Briefing
How democratic is the UK’s ‘democratic conscience’?
Research Briefing
This note provides a short history to the events that lead up to the establishment of the Groceries Code Adjudicator in June 2013, , and recent debates as to the Adjudicator’s impact and the review of its remit which is to be undertaken in 2016.
Research Briefing
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence. This can mean that the offender will spend the rest of his natural life in prison, although more commonly the offender will spend a "minimum term" in custody before being released on licence. This briefing from the Commons Library describes the legal framework within which minimum terms are set and the circumstances in which a "whole life" minimum term may be imposed.
Research Briefing
This paper contains labour market figures for parliamentary constituencies, as well as a summary of the latest national and regional statistics.
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