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It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my...

Canada’s House of Commons on Tuesday elected Greg Fergus as its new speaker, making the Liberal lawmaker the first black Canadian to hold the position. The election was triggered by the resignation of Anthony Rota […] “The speaker, to use the old hockey analogy, is nothing more than a referee,” Fergus said in his first speech from the chair. “And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that nobody pays good money to go see the referee. They go to see the stars: you.” …

NAZI LAVROV | Cartoon Movement

With a lawbreaking Prime Minister, soaring living costs and news of the Rwanda asylum plan, MPs have struggled to keep their cool in the House of Commons. On Tuesday, 19 April, 2022, amid the cost of living crisis devastating the lives of her constituents, Zarah Sultana addressed Ministers about tax loopholes and tax havens. She said: ‘They’re laughing in our faces while robbing the public purse.

Voting along party lines, a majority of MPs in the House of Commons voted on Feb. 21 to approve the extraordinary and temporary measures in the Emergencies Act invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.The governing Liberals and the NDP voted to pass the motion for confirmation of the declaration of emergency, while the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voted against it.The motion passed with 185 MPs voting for it and 151 voting against it.Trudeau invoked the act on Feb. 14 to deal with the protests in Ottawa and elsewhere against COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.Ahead of the vote on Feb. 21, Trudeau...

Did the Battle of Lewes, which saw King Henry III defeated 750 years ago, lead to England's first tentative steps towards representative democracy? As bloodied bodies littered the South Downs, the King hid in a priory. His father, King John, had been forced to sign Magna Carta by England's rebellious barons, now Henry had suffered even greater humiliation at their hands. His victor was Simon de Montfort, the French-born Earl of Leicester, who was fighting for the rights of England to be governed by the English. After the battle, where de Montfort's forces were outnumbered by two to one, he...

In June the world will celebrate 800 years since the issuing of Magna Carta. But 2015 is also the anniversary of another important, and far more radical, British milestone in democratic history, writes Luke Foddy. Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster. For the very first time, elected representatives from every county and major town in England were invited to parliament on behalf of their local communities. It was, in the words of one historian, "the House of Commons in embryo". The January Parliament, which first met on 20 January 1265, is one of the...

They voted 358 to 234 - a majority of 124 - in favour of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, which now goes on to further scrutiny in Parliament. The bill would also ban an extension of the transition period - during which the UK is out of the EU but follows many of its rules - past 2020. The PM said the country was now "one step closer to getting Brexit done".

Live Updates: U.K. Votes in General Election Britain’s voters head to the polls to choose their next government on Thursday in a deeply divided moment for the country that has left the outcome unpredictable. RIGHT NOW Voting has begun in the British general election, the second since the country’s landmark Brexit referendum.

Polls just closed in Atlantic Canada. Post results here.

Outgoing House of Commons Speaker John Bercow is not leaving Parliament without yelling "order!" just a few more times. Several of those directives came on Monday as the speaker tried to preside over the latest Brexit tête-à-tête between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Tensions are getting extremely high now that the UK is about two months out from the latest official date when it will finally separate from the European Union. Parliament is still without a deal, having rejected former Prime Minister Theresa May's agreement with Brussels an historic three times. Meaning, a no-deal Brexit...

LONDON — Britain’s Parliament grabbed control Monday of the government’s efforts to leave the European Union, challenging the country’s political traditions and inflicting on Prime Minister Theresa May a rebuke not suffered by any recent predecessor. By stepping into the process known as Brexit and trying to define an alternative path, lawmakers could create a constitutional showdown in Britain, where the government normally controls the agenda in Parliament, especially on its most pressing issues. Parliament passed an amendment giving itself the power to vote on alternatives to the government’s Brexit plan. Its attempt to take control of the process came...

Remainers had hoped it would be the night when they finally made a dent in Theresa May’s Brexit plans as they put forward a bewildering array of new clauses and amendments to the Article 50 bill. Nine proposals in all, ranging from the rights of EU migrants to the opinions of the Gibraltar Government, were put to the vote, and one by one all nine proposals were thrown out by MPs. It was a flawless night for Theresa May, as the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was passed by 494 votes to 122 in its original, unamended form.

Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the nation’s House of Commons Tuesday that he has attended lavish fundraisers for his family’s foundation to “create economic growth for the middle class.” His defense of his participation in fundraisers thrown by the Pierre Trudeau Foundation – which he renounced his official position in upon becoming the leader of the Liberal Party – follows an admission that he allowed attendees to lobby him at these fundraisers, a clear violation of Liberal Party bylaws. The metastasizing cash-for-access scandal follows a calamitous month for Canada’s Liberals in which, partly triggered by Trudeau’s effusive praise...

Mr. Cameron's last appearance in the House of Commons for the weekly grilling known as Prime Ministers Question Time (PMQ). Sometime this afternoon he will go the Palace to hand in his resignation to the Queen and "advise" the Queen to ask Mrs. May to form the next Government as PM.

Two more MPs have come out as gay to take the total number in the House of Commons to 35 -- more than any other parliament in the world. The SNP's business spokeswoman, Hannah Bardell, and Labour's shadow Welsh Secretary, Nia Griffith, revealed their sexuality at a photoshoot celebrating Parliament's growing diversity. At last year's election there were 32 lesbian, gay and bisexual MPs, which rose to 33 when Scottish Secretary David Mundell became the first openly out Tory cabinet member last month. ...

A group of lawmakers says British authorities are failing transgender people, who suffer routine discrimination and are disproportionately likely to attempt suicide. [...] In a report published Thursday, the (House of Commons Women and Equalities C)ommittee said gender identity should no longer be treated as a mental health issue, and official recognition of gender should be based on individual self-declaration. It said people should be able to record their gender as "X" rather than male or female on a passport. ...

Britain will lose out on more than $1 billion in planned investment in Scottish golf resorts if it bans Donald Trump from entering the country, the Republican presidential candidate's company said on Wednesday. It also warned that the millions of Americans who support Trump would be alienated by such a move. The Trump Organization issued the caution after a parliamentary committee on Tuesday set a January 18 date for a House of Commons debate on the issue. A petition on the Commons website calling for Trump to be barred has drawn more than 570,700 signatures -- well over the 100,000...

The elections for the House of Commons of Canada took place yesterday. The Conservative Party of Canada fell from a 54% majority in 2011 to a 29% minority in 2015. The four liberal parties outnumber them at 71%. Here are the breakdowns: Party 2011 2011 pct  2015 2015 pct Conservative  166 53.9% 99 29.3% Liberal 34 11.0% 184 54.4% New Democratic 103 33.4% 44 13.0% Bloc Québécois 4 1.3% 10 3.0% Green 1 0.3% 1 0.3% Totals 308 100.0% 338 100.0% Combined Left 142 46.1% 239 70.7% Conservative 166 53.9% 99 29.3% Source, with graphs and analysis

MPs have overwhelmingly rejected the legalization of assisted dying in England and Wales after an impassioned four-and-a-half hour debate in which party lines were set aside. Members voted by three to one against giving second reading to a bill tabled by the Labour backbencher Rob Marris, to allow terminally ill patients to be supplied with a lethal dose of drugs. It was the first ever serious attempt to change Britain’s assisted suicide laws through the House of Commons, and saw calls for the issue to be put to a referendum amid polling suggesting public support running at around 80 percent....