Lords to question Chris Bryant on EVEL
The House of Lords Constitution Committee will this week take evidence from the former Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Chris Bryant MP, on the operation of English Votes for English Laws.
The Committee are undertaking a short inquiry into EVEL and its effect on the Union, the House of Lords and the way Government departments plan and draft legislation.
Areas the Committee will cover with Mr Bryant include whether a Labour government would retain EVEL, the criteria by which EVEL should be judged a success or failure, the impact of EVEL on the House of Commons' role in representing the UK as a whole and whether the introduction of EVEL has led to two classes of MP.
The evidence session with Mr Bryant will start at 10:30am on Wednesday 29 June in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.
This session will be followed at 11:00am with evidence from government solicitors Elizabeth Gardiner, First Parliamentary Council, and Jonathan Jones Treasury Solicitor and Head of Government Legal Service. They will be joined by Adam Pile, Head of the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Secretariat, Economic Secretariat at the Cabinet Office.
In this the session the Committee will touch on how the process of drafting legislation by Parliamentary Counsel has changed since the introduction of EVEL, the training offered to officials and lawyers in Government to ensure they understand the certification and parliamentary process under EVEL and the impact of EVEL on ‘ping-pong' when legislation moves quickly between the House of Commons and House of Lords.
