Public celebrations will not be able to take place due to the coronavirus pandemic
Credit: PA
Today marks 76 years since VE Day as the United Kingdom commemorates the end of the Second World War in Europe.
Street parties, parades or concerts to celebrate the historic event will not be able to take place for the second year in a row due to the ongoing pandemic, but you can still observe the occasion from home.
Here is all the information you need on VE Day; what it is, why we celebrate it, and how you can still mark the occasion during lockdown.
Highlights from the 2019-21 session in the Lords
Highlights from the 2019-21 session in the Lords
7 May 2021 2021
The 2019-2021 session of Parliament ran from 20 December 2019 to 29 April 2021. The House of Lords met for more than 1,750 hours in the chamber and grand committee, examining 59 bills and asking over 900 questions. It also published more than 200 committee reports.
Making laws
In 2019-21, the House of Lords scrutinised and revised 59 bills, asking government and the House of Commons to think again on issues such as trade with countries accused of genocide, making threats to share intimate images an offence and protecting food standards.
Checking and challenging government action
Public celebrations will not be able to take place due to the coronavirus pandemic
Credit: PA
Saturday, May 8 marks 76 years since VE Day as the United Kingdom commemorates the end of the Second World War in Europe.
Street parties, parades or concerts to celebrate the historic event will not be able to take place for the second year in a row due to the ongoing pandemic, but you can still observe the occasion from home.
Here is all the information you need on VE Day; what it is, why we celebrate it, and how you can still mark the occasion during lockdown.
The new Lord Speaker has called for the number of peers to be vigorously reduced as he demanded a face to face meeting with Boris Johnson to discuss plans to shake up Parliament.
Lord McFall, who has just taken over the role from Lord Fowler, said the upper chamber should be continuing to look at shrinking to the size of the House of Commons.
At the moment there are approximately 800 peers compared to 650 MPs in the Commons.
There are long-running efforts to reduce the number of MPs to 600 and Lord McFall said the House of Lords should have no more members than the Commons.
Hereditary peers must prove their worth to remain, says new Lord Speaker
In an exclusive interview, Lord McFall says a review of the Lords would retain hereditary members who have relevant experience for lawmaking
2 May 2021 • 8:00pm
Lord Mcfall has vowed to continue his predecessor’s campaign to reduce the size of the House of Lords
Credit: Charlotte Graham
Hereditary peers should prove their worth in the House of Lords to avoid being expelled as part of a slimming-down of the upper chamber, the new Lord Speaker has suggested.
Lord McFall is the man perhaps best known for going head to head with the bankers after the 2008 financial crash, taking the Bank of England to task and accusing regulators of having a sleep at the back of the shop while the mugging was taking place at the front .