Nikki da Costa
@nmdacosta
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Former Director of Legislative Affairs No10. Commentator on parliamentary process and ways to be effective in Westminster. Conservative. Stood GE2024.
Joined June 2024
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There’s a partial retelling in the Telegraph of how Conservatives came to have the courage to use S35 of the Scotland Act. It rather erases the many women, from the grassroots to
@KemiBadenoch
, who did the hard yards and said “no”. Their story is in “Women who wouldn’t weesht”
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Select Committee allocation is out following negotiations. Conservatives will chair Culture, Media and Sport; Home Affairs; Public Accounts; Public Administration; Standards. Lib Dem’s get Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Health and Social Care. All else is Labour 1/
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Finally got my hands on King's Speech bundle (husband's birthday with family!). 40 bills but almost 50% of it is retread, rebranded, and housekeeping - I had to check I was on the right page for the King's Speech given duplication from previous programmes 1/
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Hi my name is Nikki da Costa. I'm fighting for North East Herts, my home. Some know me for standing up to Starmer and Bercow during Brexit - helping our country move on. Others for standing up for women and girls. Now I'm fighting to make sure North East Herts has a voice 1/
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The book is co-edited by two of the formidable women who wouldn’t weesht -
@LucyHunterB
and
@DalgetySusan
. When grassroots women had to fight for years to be heard, and the problem was Holyrood’s utter dismissal of their concerns, what they did must never be erased.
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The unprecedented size of Labour’s majority must stiffen Conservative MPs’ resolve. They can form an effective fighting force in Parliament they are organised, exercise personal and collective discipline, and work as a team via
@conhome
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Can’t be having an “unsettled” PM but what’s Keir going to do about the little thatcher in the terracotta room? Get a chisel? Removing Thatcher from No10 requires more effort but if you’d like to see where this portrait was - named The Study because it was Thatcher’s study…1/
'It now transpires that the new Prime Minister has taken it upon himself to redecorate parts of No. 10 – and has reportedly gone so far as to remove a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from Downing Street.'
✍️ Steerpike
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Winter Fuel Payment SI is now before parliament. In force from 16 Sept, and window for either House to reject the SI is 40 days (clock stops for recesses of more than 4 days). HMO will need to table a motion “praying” against it and push for a debate NOT because they can win 1/
The regulations to change eligibility for Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) have been made & laid before Parliament. They revoke the previous regs made in 2000.
Thread below from
@mattengland3011
explains why it may be difficult for MPs to get a debate on them.
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Re-reading the Guide to Making Legislation (I know how to enjoy myself) and very much relishing comments I’d previously skimmed. I can hear the sighs that accompanied their drafting. The whole document is a wonderful repository of institutional memory and battles won and lost.
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In Letchworth town centre today, women asked me “Are you sticking up for women and girls?”. I’ve had the same in my inbox. I had the brilliant Lottie Moore with me and from both of us they got an emphatic yes.
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Interesting that it was allowed through first time: (a) did officials object and were they overruled? (b) process failure and it wasn’t spotted?
A Cabinet Office spokesperson:
“The Cabinet Secretary has responded to Liz Truss and directed for these references to be removed from the document. They have now been corrected and updated."
Admit they should not have been in there.
So who put them in?
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Having watched Starmer and others do everything possible to ignore what people had said at the ballot box, and Labour's attempts to silence women when they said sex matters, I have little faith that dissent will come from their own ranks. Have you? /end
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Govt whips calculating can they get through winter without giving the Con or Lib Dems an Opp Day for a debate on winter fuel SI. Theoretically yes, BUT the price could be an Opp Day every week for rest of session and gambling on loss of flexibility for other problems 1/
News. Energy Price Cap to rise 10% on 1 Oct, my instant video briefing on what it means, what you should do, changes to standing charges, and why govt should rethink Winter Fuel Payments
Feel free to share
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If they’d failed to table today ANY MP could have brought forward their own proposals. Interesting to see how Conservatives use CMS. Lib Dem’s targeting core areas. How will Labour chairs behave? With many shadow ministers discarded by Starmer this is their alt career path
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Westminster Hall debates should have started today. Last night’s motion “without debate” meant no reasons were provided for pushing back debates. Changes to Commons scrutiny can be made easily with an unquestioning majority. This time it’s only a week of debates lost…1/
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With 0.01% of SIs rejected since 1950s, and size of Lab majority, they’ll lose. But (a) they can win the argument (b) policy change can be secured through intense media and political pressure, a key part of which is forcing MPs to vote and justify it locally 2/
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An enjoyable discussion with
@HansardSociety
drawing back the curtain on how legislation is dealt with in government. With hat tip to the unsung heroes inc. the excellent Parliamentary Business and Legislation secretariat and always brilliant Office of Parliamentary Counsel.
NEW
#Parliament
Matters with
@nmdacosta
- How is a King's Speech crafted?
- What happens behind the closed doors of the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Cabinet Committee?
- What tactics can MPs deploy to influence legislation?
🎧 Listen now
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MPs that push back will need to have courage and DO THE WORK - speak out, risk themselves, give people a voice, read the legislation, find what's hidden or what's not been thought through, work with the Lords to raise issues. How many brand new Labour MPs will do that? 6/
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This could be one of the first 20 things every MP votes on in this parliament (6 votes so far) and (c) it ensures Labour have to make their case and use their political capital with their own MPs, which can impact future votes / how this parliament plays out. 3/
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You can find out more about my campaign at or . Here I'll talk about what the next Parliament might look like and why everyone should worry . If parliamentary paralysis was bad, what of a parliament where dissent is negligble? 2/
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Being able to count is vital. So too is knowing it’s not just the numbers that matter /end
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The meat is in bills such as the Employment Rights Bill; Planning and Infrastructure; English Devolution Bill; Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. And remember that the King's Speech does not limit what else can be introduced.
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Testing Starmer's integrity by giving him power and hoping for the best, with no surety, is a high risk strategy for a country with our constitutional set-up. I should know, I was Director of Legislative Affairs at No 10. I know both the limits and extent of executive power 5/
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In 1997
@philipjcowley
described the 'massed ranks' of Blair's Labour. So many new MPs, all keen for promotion, keeping their mouths shut, doing what they were told. It started to wear off in the next parliament, but five years is a long time when a PM has a blank cheque 3/
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No Director of Legislative Affairs yet at No10. Will they keep the post, something Whitehall and Jeremy Haywood thought would make a big difference, or believe that the size of the majority means they don’t need to really understand Parliament when decisions are being taken?
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With my ConHome article out on how to craft an effective opposition operation in parliament, I couldn't let tomorrow's
#kingsspeech
pass by without posting briefly about what to expect 1/
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Glad to see this. Working with Kemi I saw deep-rooted values consistently demonstrated; she confronted what others ignored and gave others a voice; she shifted debates by making the case; and she knows no one alone can solve things - the team counts.
🚨Our party needs to renew and so today I announced my candidacy to lead the Conservative Party, in the Times .
To find out more including about the official launch in September please sign up at ✍️
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And while a manifesto can give an indication of what Labour may do, and it may be used to try and bind the Lords, it does not bind a PM. Any law can be passed, no matter how ill thought through, secondary powers snaffled away, and the Lords can only block for two years 4/
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But this thread wouldn’t be complete without a hat tip to the wonderful HL, one of the most senior civil servants in No10 during my time, who in addition to the day job helped ground new arrivals in the history of the building with her tours. Thanks HL!
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I am intrigued by what surprises drafters were thinking of. Would love examples…
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What am I missing? Motion to sit on a Friday simply to facilitate a general debate? Or was something intended for this slot that’s now not materialised?
9/ Friday 26 July
General debate on making Britain a clean energy superpower
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RETURNING, sometimes with repackaging (9 bills): Digital Info; Crime and Policing (repackages a lot from the bill that fell); Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill (was a PMB in the last session); Product Safety; 3/
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You can take a virtual tour here: . This is the most coveted room in No10 and nearly every PM has wanted to make it theirs only to be discouraged by the civil service (see Suzanne Heywood’s “What does Jeremy think”). But Thatcher’s legacy goes deep…2/
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This is the format for a “prayer” - the official process to start opposition to a negative SI. It’s the only form of Early Day Motion that isn’t simply parliamentary graffiti. Headline could have done with unpacking the significance rather than the process.
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VARIATIONS ON A THEME (3): Victims; Renters Reform; Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill (interestingly they are going for draft!).
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Six bills have been introduced to the Commons and the Lords. 4 of 6 are housekeeping. Commons: Budget Responsibility Bill; ‘Renationalise Railways’ Bill; Holocaust Memorial bill (from last parliament) 1/
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Incorporating a thatcher in the plasterwork of the Terracotta Room, to allegedly designing her autobiography with her portrait on its spine, knowing it would go on the Cabinet Room bookshelf - as all PM’s have the right to leave a book - so she could monitor her successors 4/
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Unique doorstep conversation on Saturday: think I won a voter round with my knowledge of statutory instruments and how little scrutiny they get, what the options are, and how important it is to intervene early in the policy process🙌 . Don’t worry it’s not my go to script!
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Opposition Chief Whip also needs to make clear in usual channels that this SI they want a debate on.
Changes to winter fuel payments are actually made by statutory instrument, subject to the *negative* procedure, meaning there is no vote for them to come into force, but the Opposition could “pray” against them and ask the Government for a debate and vote to annul the changes.
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First session of a new parliament will always be heavily influenced by what's on the stocks and measures which fit nicely into gaps while the big political bills are made ready. And in some ways its good to see some continuity between parliaments but this does feel remarkable 2/
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@MrHarryCole
This is the format for a “prayer” - the official process to start opposition to a negative SI. It’s the only form of EDM that isn’t simply parliamentary graffiti. Headline could have done with unpacking the significance rather than the process.
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Terrorism Protection of Premises bill (there were issues on this one); Football Governance; Tobacco and Vapes; Mental Health (continues work in the last parliament); Holocaust Memorial Bill 4/
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Rather than let things drag on looks like the government is providing time for the Winter Fuel SI to be debated. Shows confidence that they will take the issue head on and recognition that trying to dodge a vote for all of winter was not going to be sustainable
NEW: Government is setting time aside next week (likely Tuesday) for MPs to debate, and vote on, the cuts to eligibility for the winter fuel allowance (although the size of govt majority means it's unlikely to be overturned).
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Others have sought to emulate her. Blair added wooden bees to the woodwork bookcases in the Study representing each Blair who lived there 6/
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Winter Fuel SI is before parliament. It automatically becomes law 16 September. But the clock runs till 4 Nov for MPs to debate and vote on it IF the govt grants time. With no chance of govt defeat, refusing a debate indicates standing MPs up to vote on it is too unpalatable 1/
Govt whips calculating can they get through winter without giving the Con or Lib Dems an Opp Day for a debate on winter fuel SI. Theoretically yes, BUT the price could be an Opp Day every week for rest of session and gambling on loss of flexibility for other problems 1/
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REPURPOSING (2): High Speed 2 Bill; Rail (includes the draft bill to set up Great British Rail from the last session); National Wealth Fund Bill 'aligns' existing UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Bank Fund - is there a lot of substance in what will be achieved here 6/
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And that disregards her portrait on THAT staircase (all the portraits move done one to accommodate the most recent addition) 5/
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HOUSEKEEPING (5): Arbitration (Law Commission bill - fell in the last session); Bank resolution (recapitalisation); Pensions Schemes bill (been kicking around a while waiting for a slot); Audit reform (promised in draft two sessions ago); Lords Spiritual Bill 5/
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Private Members Bill ballot is being put back by govt to 5 Sept rather than on Thursday (see today's order paper). This isn't altruistic - it gives the govt time to work out what it might like to see as PMBs so it can petition MPs in the ballot to take a 'handout' bill 1/
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Expect at least a handful of bills to be introduced to the Commons and the Lords off the back of the King's Speech, with a second wave in the autumn, and another in early 2025. Typically there will be three waves of bills in a session. 4/
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Chuffed at
@PARLYapp
’s praise for the podcast with the Hansard Society . You too can have a listen 😉 at
@nmdacosta
Resisting the urge to tweet out the whole episode but just so much interesting content on rebellions, the House of Lords and delegated legislation.
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A spirited defence of our House of Commons from
@PARLYapp
who probably has more insight than anyone except the table clerks and Speaker/Deputy Speakers into how the chamber functions as a debating chamber day in and day out.
🧵
Highly recommend taking a tour of Parliament where you get to stand in the House of Commons.
Hopefully you will get a sense of how small the chamber is, how close the benches are and how that influences the culture of debate and interaction (and heckling).
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No mention last week at Business Questions. Indeed when it was noted by
@carolinenokes
that there wouldn’t be debates from the Backbench Business Committee and Petitions Committee until they are running (Oct?), m Commons Leader pointed to Westminster Hall debates as reassurance!
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This session is likely to last 18 to 24 months. That's fairly typical for a first session of a new parliament and new Government. It gives the business managers longer to get bills over the line without having to rely on 'carrying them over' to the next session 2/
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Recess is everyone's friend for getting organised. The vast majority of changes made to a bill, or in how it is implemented, are not because of the risk of defeat but because issues are exposed early and in a sustained fashion. Westminster' impact not limited to amendments /end
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None of this is about vote risk it is about how the vote plays out in public, in the media, and with constituents and how the handling impacts Labour MPs’ relationship with No10. And critically, it’s not a decision in isolation and will affect options for other issues 6/
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The Government press release talks of 35 bills, but by the end of the session we may see over 50 Government Bills added to the statute books. The King's Speech does not constrain a Government it merely gives (often contrived) thematic shape to what is to come 3/
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PS Haven’t had time to work out the calendar properly so there may be adjustments to the maths but it won’t be far off.
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Absolutely this. And making sure we’ve thought through all the supporting materials around a vote. Thanks
@VoteRobinMillar
Eight excellent points from
@nmdacosta
. One more? A great comms operation.
Just minutes after leaving the division lobby my phone would start to buzz with activist constituents outraged by clever (but often baseless) opposition stoked grievances.
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Thank you for your support
@TerraOrBust
As I mentioned in a tweet earlier, I was on the fence about who to vote for in my constituency.
I decided to look at it purely from a
#BrexitBenefits
perspective - which candidate in my constituency is fully 100% behind
#Brexit
.
I listened to this podcast interview with my
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Glad to see this. Working with Kemi I saw deep-rooted values consistently demonstrated; she confronted what others ignored and gave others a voice; she shifted debates by making the case; and she knows no one alone can solve things - the team counts.
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So price of 5 month hiatus could be having to do one a week for rest of session. Now of course session could be extended, govt could refuse to do more, and govt can misbehave but it’s a slippery slope (backdrop of pushing back PMB ballot and Westminster Hall debates etc), so 3/
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Too good not to share 🙏
@nmdacosta
At least we don't have the US love of contorting names for a snappy acronym :
United States Exploration on Idle Tracts Act (USE IT)
Fostering Opportunities for Resources and Education Spending through Timber Sales Act (FOREST)
Justice Attributed to Wounded Sharks Act (JAWS)
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Tomorrow 20 MPs drawn in the Private Members' Bill ballot will be courted by those wanting legislative change and by govt. Each bill's chances are slim (not necessarily a bad thing) and there are big hurdles, but it's worth understanding why it is tricky
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This is how the role came about at No10 - from
@GavinBarwell
’s book Chief of Staff. While I’m at it I do recommend Ole&Steen pastries if the new No10 team want to resurrect that function too!
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No summer adjournment debate + no Westminster Hall debates till September + the PMB ballot put back.
Labour Delays Sir David Amess Summer Debate Against Commons Tradition
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While some of the early bills will be 'housekeeping' bills dressed up to be politically salient, others will be more impactful. In 1997 constitutional reform featured prominently - i.e Referendums Act. 5/
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Worth clocking that tax changes can be immediate. Immediately after a Budget there are votes on “resolutions” which can make immediate changes to what you are taxed. Executive power to raise taxes FAST when you have a majority is unparalleled.
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Bills introduced to the Commons are unlikely to progress much beyond second reading before summer recess. While there are no minimum intervals and it is possible to take bills in Committee of the Whole House for expediency, the advantage of doing so is largely optical 6/
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Love this tidbit: "Some [Labour MPs in] target seats have been through perhaps two years of intense preparation and coaching (which apparently included ...lying on the floor screaming under the instruction of a drama teacher)".
Being screamed at might have been more useful!
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40 day period is for a motion to annul, but after that a motion to revoke can be used though not binding. That puts all of winter in play. Back of envelope calc: a one year session = 38 sitting weeks to tackle 20 Opp days. 2 down, 17 sitting weeks to end Jan, 21 to end Feb 2/
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@HoggarthJan
I never thought of the appropriateness of “praying” given the chances. I shall remember that!
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(and it limits the opportunity for the Government to do some more work over the summer and add amendments in Committee stage). Bills introduced to the Lords will only achieve second reading this side of the summer recess as minimum intervals between stages are observed. 7/
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On (3) calculation will be absorbing the pain of rebellion from those Labour MPs who come under severe constituency pressure and whether the narrative it’s “not legally binding” is enough defence for most MPs not to play 5/
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Govt decision (1) give time for a debate on SI (2) give Opp Day in the 40 day period (3) refuse to do either of above and feed narrative of ignoring parliament but give Opp Day after period during winter and hope MPs are ok (4) try to get through winter but lose all flex 4/
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@TerraOrBust
Thank you so much for your support. I love that you are in North East Herts - I’m a fan!
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“The government has an overwhelming majority in Bill Committees, so it will always vote down an amendment it has not already decided (in private) to support”. It’s not just that it’s a majority it’s that the MPs are chosen. Something unexpected happens = Whips cocked up
At the end of the last Parliament, I was the only MP who had been a political journalist. Some reflections on what I learnt when I went from poacher to gamekeeper.
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Every lobby No10 are surely going to be asked if they’ll grant time for a debate, ditto every Business Questions. The longer the govt leaves it, if it then concedes, the more it looks like it was dragged into granting time.
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@StoatlyL
Election of chairs usually takes place a fortnight after party allocations announced. Debatable whether this happens before summer recess. When it happens, its a secret ballot using the alternative vote system and all MPs can vote on every chair 2/
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@eichel_robert
No it’s not wrong - and the answer is not always “more legislation “ but it shows there is a lot of padding of what is a relatively thin agenda. They aren’t limited to what’s in Kings Speech but it does suggest the ideas for what to do with power aren’t there yet.
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@kyle98_evans
@AskThePatrick
Agree an Opp Day should be used and even if one is granted during winter after the 40 days. Timing Opp Days to minimise risk is key for govt, and this early in the session they can push them off, but it limits flex later in session when they may regret having so many still to do
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With thanks to Robert Rogers and Rhodri Walters, 'How Parliament Works', for an excellent quote!
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Commons bills to be introduced today: Budget Responsibility Bill, Holocaust Memorial Bill (a hybrid bill carried over from last Parliament), Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill. May see more next week. Also motion to sit next 2 Fridays. Note written statements..1/
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With the former, with minimum intervals in Lords, and using past precedent of last OBR Act, fastest this will make it through Lords is mid November. Railway renationalisation will take longer. (p.s.Lords bills aren't announced on order paper in same way so not covered here) /end
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Expect that's this Friday for King's Speech debate, and to bring its conclusion forward to Wednesday or Tuesday. Gives Labour maybe 3 or 4 days to legislate pre 30 July. Maybe 2R for Budget Responsibility (BR) Bill, another day all stages, and 2R on Railway nationalisation? 2/
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On the other hand I do love articles that explain what happens next, and which explicitly reference statutory instruments and parliamentary process.
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@TFelpersham
Yes but the bundle gets checked thoroughly precisely because it is the first big public moment for the new Government's programme, the bits HMT and No10 in charge of particularly so, and if it was on page 100 I'd understand it could be missed, but on page 11?
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GB Energy bill has 2nd reading on Thursday. Committee will conclude by Tuesday 15 October 2024. If all that time is used, and remaining stages the following week, could be with the Lords before Oct is out with second reading w/c 4 Nov.
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Argh I’ve spotted the errant apostrophe! Almost enough reason to subscribe to avoid redoing the entire thread. But I shall suffer the righteous slings and arrows!
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Explains a statutory instrument down for future debate. Oddly says ban will be “later this year or in early 2025 depending on…parliamentary process”. Affirmative SI debates can take 3 mths to schedule BUT govt controls so uncertainty is odd. Why wait? 1/
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@ricster71
TY! I'd forgotten that so I went back and checked the King's Speech bundle, and it talks about (a) implementing existing act and (b) completing proposed Law Commission reforms. Those with a sector focus will know if this is divergence or continuity
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