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psa-parliaments.bsky.social
PSA Parliaments
@psa-parliaments.bsky.social
We are the Parliaments specialist group of the UK's Political Studies Association.
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
NEW BLOG: Assessing the House of Commons Backbench Business Committee 15 years on

Unit Director Meg Russell and Hannah Kelly argue changes are needed to get back to the Wright Committee’s vision of it helping facilitate a more responsive and independent House of Commons.
Assessing the House of Commons Backbench Business Committee 15 years on
Unit Director Meg Russell and Hannah Kelly argue changes are needed to get back to the Wright Committee’s vision of it helping facilitate a more responsive and independent House of Commons. 
constitution-unit.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
🚨 New research in the @politicalquarterly.bsky.social from Dr @louisevthompson.bsky.social @uompols.bsky.social shows the House of Commons still works like it’s the 1950s — shutting smaller parties out and leaving millions of voters unheard.

www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/o...

@manchester.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
In Business Questions today, Jesse Norman said: 'since taking office last year, the present Prime Minister has increasingly misused his first engagements question'.

@ruxandrasrbn.bsky.social and Tom Fleming have crunched the numbers to find that Keir Starmer does use PMQs differently.

Read more 👇
How has Keir Starmer changed Prime Minister’s Questions?
Since taking office, Keir Starmer has used his opening answer at Prime Minister’s Questions very differently from his predecessors. In this post, Ruxandra Serban and Tom Fleming explore how Starmer…
constitution-unit.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
✏️ Franklin De Vrieze has written another interesting blog—this time he explores parliaments and financial governance!

Read more here: psaparliaments.org/2025/10/27/w...
Why democratic financial governance needs a systems revolution – PSA Parliaments
psaparliaments.org
October 28, 2025 at 5:33 PM
📑 Read @parlcharlie.bsky.social's fascinating new blog post all about remarks that get removed from Hansard!

Read all about it here: psaparliaments.org/2025/10/20/u...

@ukparliament.parliament.uk @hansardsociety.bsky.social
Unfit for Hansard? – PSA Parliaments
psaparliaments.org
October 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
📘 Delighted that my first peer-reviewed article has been published @bjpir.bsky.social

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧 It explores the accountability of intergovernmental policymaking between Scotland, Wales and UK.

🔓 Open access: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🙏 Thanks @psa-parliaments.bsky.social for all the support!
October 20, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
New data for legislative scholars! Committee Membership Dataset with @bcastanho.bsky.social, @dmpullan.bsky.social and Firuze Taner:

Committee assignments for all MPs (Wikidata IDs!) in 14 countries
Harmonized roles/policy areas

Data: doi.org/10.7802/2940
Working paper: tinyurl.com/vf54r78p

⬇️
GESIS-Suche
doi.org
October 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
ON THE BLOG: Prime Minister's Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons: Lessons in parliamentary reform

@ruxandrasrbn.bsky.social explains how Canada's experiment with a Prime Minister's Question Period procedure between 2017 and 2025 worked and how it differed from the traditional model.
Prime Minister's Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons: Lessons in parliamentary reform
Between 2017 and 2025, the Canadian House of Commons operated a Prime Minister’s Question Period procedure, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a new published article summarised here, Ruxandra Serban explores how this procedure worked, and how it differed from the traditional Question Period model.
constitution-unit.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
🚨 Job Opportunity! 🚨 Applications are now open for a new 2.5-year postdoc at @edinburghpir.bsky.social to examine how parliaments gather, analyse and use different types of knowledge - see the full job listing here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoctoral Research Fellow (SPARK)
We are looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with experience in the politics of the UK, Scottish, German or Bavarian parliaments to join the UKRI-funded research project, ‘Studying Parliaments an...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
September 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
📣 Inter Pares and the International Parliament Engagement Network have created some fantastic Citizen Engagement Guides for Parliaments! 🗳️

📚Check them out here with 🔗 below

#PublicEngagement #Democracy #Parliament
Guides on Citizen Engagement for Parliaments
Parliaments in Partnership
eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:39 PM
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Very happy to be back on the Parliament Matters podcast, discussing the latest developments on the assisted dying bill with @ruthfox.bsky.social & @matthewengland.bsky.social. Thank you for having me!

Listen to the episode here: pod.link/1714627828/e...
September 20, 2025 at 7:08 AM
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It was great to talk about all things PMQs with @ruthfox.bsky.social and @darcyxtip.bsky.social on @hansardsociety.bsky.social Parliament Matters!

We discuss why France and Canada have experimented with PMQs, and why it may be time to retire the ‘engagements’ question.

youtu.be/OtpApR3fNQE?...
Prime Minister's Questions: Westminster's weekly gladiatorial combat
YouTube video by Hansard Society
youtu.be
August 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
Bloomsbury Set hangout.

Nice venue for the Birkbeck / Birmingham / @psa-parliaments.bsky.social sponsored workshop on what is a parliament.
September 19, 2025 at 8:42 AM
📣 International Parliamentary Engagement Network is launching a world map of parliamentary public engagement!

🗓️ 25 September 2025, 4-6pm in Westminster, London.

💫 Email [email protected] by 17th September for details and to sign up!
September 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
📣The Call for Papers for PSA26 in Oxford is also now open 📣

Submissions are via ExOrdo: psa26.exordo.com/login

❗️The deadline for submissions is 17 October❗️
PSA 76th Annual International Conference | Ex Ordo
psa26.exordo.com
July 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM
🎉 PSA Parliaments Annual Conference on 28 Nov @york.ac.uk 🎉

📣 Call for Papers is now live! Submit your abstract here: bit.ly/4o879gP

✏️Our ECR methods workshop will also take place on 27 Nov! Apply here: bit.ly/3J4uQXk

💻 Check out our website for more details: psaparliaments.org/annual-confe...
July 28, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
Changing adversarial behaviour at PMQs is a collective action problem. MPs and parties criticise it, but continue to engage in it because confrontation draws attention to PMQs and is the way it has worked for a long time. Meaningful change would require all parties agreeing to stop engaging in this.
This, by @alanrenwick.bsky.social, is spot on about the dire impact of Prime Minister's Questions - the flagship event of the parliamentary week.
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...
July 18, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
I’m really pleased that the @psa-parliaments.bsky.social conference will be at @uoypolitics.bsky.social this November!

If you work in the field of parliaments or legislative studies please consider applying

More details on the website: psaparliaments.org/annual-confe...
Annual Conference – PSA Parliaments
psaparliaments.org
July 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
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ON THE BLOG: Commons procedure: why does it matter & how does it change?

Formal rules, combined with conventions & precedents, provide a framework for parliamentary action. Hannah Kelly, Lisa James & Meg Russell explain why it matters, how it evolves & what future changes have been proposed
House of Commons procedure: why does it matter and how does it change?
House of Commons procedure combines formal rules with conventions and precedents, providing the framework for conducting business and making decisions. Hannah Kelly, Lisa James and Meg Russell expl…
constitution-unit.com
July 10, 2025 at 9:23 AM
What is a parliament?

This workshop aims to start a fresh conversation on this classic question in legislative studies.

⏰ You have two more days (deadline Friday 4 July) to submit a brief paper proposal.

Sign up details below ⬇️
📢📢📢 CfP: What is a Parliament?

***Hurry! Deadline is this Friday!***

Interdisciplinary workshop on 19th September 2025 in London.

Full details below.

Kindly sponsored by Birkbeck, the University of Birmingham and
@psa-parliaments.bsky.social

Please apply and/or spread the word!
July 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
New polling on House of Lords reform from @conunitucl.bsky.social ⬇️
We have new opinion polling on House of Lords reform!

There is overwhelming public support to go beyond the government's current plans to remove hereditary peers (due to be debated in the Lords on Wednesday), including to limit prime ministerial appointments and cap the chamber's size.

A thread 👇
July 1, 2025 at 7:13 AM
A very interesting @conunitucl.bsky.social panel on House of Commons reform coming up next week!
Sign up details in the link below.
Our free, online conference is taking place next week!

Our House of Commons reform panel features @catsmithmp.bsky.social, @wendychambld.bsky.social and @drhannahwhite.bsky.social. What are the priorities for changing how the Commons works?

Sign up 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution....
June 13, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by PSA Parliaments
📢📢📢 CfP: What is a Parliament?

Interdisciplinary workshop on 19th September 2025 in London.

Full details below.

Kindly sponsored by Birkbeck, the University of Birmingham and
@psa-parliaments.bsky.social

Please apply and/or spread the word!
May 27, 2025 at 11:03 AM