Westminster Weekly – 27 September 2010
1. Parliamentary recess
The House of Commons rose for conference recess on Thursday 16 September. It will return again on Monday 11 October 2010.
The House of Lords remains on recess, and will return on Tuesday 5 October 2010.
2. Ed Miliband becomes Labour Party leader
Ed Miliband has been elected as leader of the Labour Party. The result was announced at a special conference, a day before the start of Labour Party conference in Manchester. Ed received 50.65% of the vote after second preferences were accounted for, narrowly beating his brother David Miliband by 1.3%. Ed Balls came third, Andy Burnham fourth and Diane Abbott fifth.
3. Party conferences
Liberal Democrat Party conference took place 18-21 September. Tuition fees were high up the agenda, with the conference passing a motion in favour of the idea of graduate tax. Deputy leader Simon Hughes expressed his belief that tuition fees would be abolished, while Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said “I am doing everything I can to ensure that graduate contributions are linked to earnings.”
Labour Party conference is taking place this week in Manchester from 26-30 September. All eyes will be on new party leader Ed Miliband, following his narrow election victory on Saturday. Ed will address conference on Tuesday, in his first major speech as leader.
Conservative Party conference will be in Birmingham, from 3-6 October.
4. Labour Party shadow cabinet elections
Nominations are now open for the Labour shadow cabinet elections. Labour’s shadow cabinet is largely determined democratically by the parliamentary party, with 19 elected through the AV system and seven ex officio members who qualify as a result of their position with party (including party leader, deputy leader, chair of the parliamentary party and leader of the party in the Lords). Once the results have been announced the party leader assigns those elected to their particular portfolios.
The timetable for the Shadow Cabinet elections is as follows:
26 September 2010: Nominations open
29 September 2010: Nominations close at 5 pm
4 October 2010: Voting begins
7 October 2010: Voting ends at 5 pm, and results are announced at 10 pm
The following is a list of candidates who are standing or rumoured to be standing:
http://www.labourlist.org/candidates-for-the-shadow-cabinet