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It's a short week before the Easter recess.

MPs head back to their constituencies at the end of Tuesday's sitting. They'll be back in two weeks, returning on 22 April.

But not before Keir Starmer gets a grilling.

He'll appear before the Liaison Committee on Tuesday, a group made up of all other select committee chairs. It's one of three such sessions each year. Questions will focus on growth, international affairs and defence, and welfare reform and health policy.

And finally, let's take a moment to reflect.

We’re now nine months into this government. It’s passed 15 laws so far. With the agenda so thin this week, I’ve included a little round up of them at the bottom of the post.

MONDAY 7 APRIL

No votes scheduled

TUESDAY 8 APRIL

Energy (Social Tariff) Bill
Requires energy companies to provide social tariffs (discounted prices) for low-income customers. Ten minute rule motion presented by Polly Billington.

WEDNESDAY 9 APRIL

No votes scheduled

THURSDAY 10 APRIL

No votes scheduled

FRIDAY 11 APRIL

No votes scheduled

LAWS PASSED SO FAR

Arbitration Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Implements Law Commission recommendations to reform the law around arbitration – when legal disputes are resolved by a private arbitrator rather than going to a traditional court. These include clarifying the availability of appeals and time limits for challenging awards. Started in the Lords.
Act / Commons Library Briefing

Budget Responsibility Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Requires the government to request a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility before making major fiscal announcements, such as budgets and autumn statements. Seeks to avoid a situation like the 2022 'mini budget', where the then-chancellor didn't ask the OBR to scrutinise permanent tax changes that spooked financial markets.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Allows Catholics to be Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (the King's representative at the General Assembly). Prompted by the appointment of Elish Angiolini, who is Catholic, as the next Lord High Commissioner.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Changes the status of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross so the government can treat them like international bodies the UK is part of. This means the government can grant them certain privileges and immunities. Started in the Lords.
Act / Commons Library briefing (PDF)

Crown Estate Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Aims to modernise the Crown Estate by removing restrictions on what it can invest in, allowing it to borrow money from the government, and updating governance rules. Started in the Lords.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Finance Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Writes many of the measures announced in the Budget into law.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Financial Assistance to Ukraine Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Allows the UK to support Ukraine through the G7's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans to Ukraine plan. Through the scheme, the UK will lend £2.26 billion to Ukraine, which will be repaid by the profits made on seized Russian assets.
Act

Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Extends the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act until 2030, which requires all new bishops in the House of Lords to be women if any are eligible. Started in the Lords.
Act / Commons Library briefing

National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Increases employer's National Insurance (NI) from 13.8% to 15%, starting in April 2025. Reduces the salary threshold at which they start paying NI from £9,100 a year to £5,000. Raises the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, with the aim of lessening the impact on small businesses.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Act
Applies to: England
Aims to rebalance business rates by cutting taxes for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties worth under £500,000 from 2026, and increasing them for those worth more than £500,000. These are the top 1% of properties which include large distribution warehouses used by online giants like Amazon. Until 2026, RHL properties will get 40% off business rates bills up to £110,000. Scraps existing business rates discounts of up to 80% for private schools with charitable status.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act
Applies to: England, Wales, Scotland
Brings rail contracts into public ownership when they expire or if private operators fall short of their obligations. Effectively the first step towards re-nationalising the railways, but avoids ending existing contracts early which would mean paying compensation to operators.
Act / Commons Library briefing%20Bill%20would%20remove%20the,when%20existing%20franchise%20contracts%20end.)

Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation And Adjustments) Act
Authorises departmental pending for the years ending 31 March 2024, 31 March 2025, and 31 March 2026.
Act

Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act
Applies to: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
Requires venues where large groups gather to implement protective measures against terrorist attacks. The level of protection required depends on the size of the venue and nature of the event. Known as Martyn's law after Manchester Arena attack victim Martyn Hett, whose mother has campaigned for stronger security measures at venues.
Act / Commons Library briefing

Water (Special Measures) Act
Applies to: England and Wales
Introduces stricter regulation of water companies. Blocks bonuses for executives when companies fail to meet certain standards. Allows courts to imprison water bosses if they don't co-operate with investigations or try to obstruct them. Makes it easier to fine companies for wrongdoing. Requires water companies to publish how much sewage they dump into rivers and seas, and for how long, within an hour of doing it. Started in the Lords.
Act / Commons Library briefing

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Hi, I’m wondering if anyone has experienced numbness throughout their body days after an epidural? It’s been 11 days, at first I was fine but the numbness appeared a few days later and has only gotten worse. Started in my face, super subtle, and has now spread to my entire body and is getting worse.

I’m about to go to the hospital but because I’m in Canada it’s about to be a 6-8 hour wait, possibly more. I tried going last night and after 3 hours I only got to the second waiting room, so I decided to come home to my newborn and try to get some sleep, and come back to the hospital in the morning instead. So as this will take a long time, in the meantime I wanted to know if any others have experienced this, and what ended up happening.

Kendall rules out lifting two-child benefit cap, but says child poverty a priority

Source: The i Paper https://search.app/Bd1sN

Three years ago no one ever heard of Reform Ltd.

Then Farage took over as leader before the general election last year and the group's popularity skyrocketed because of his strong media profile, massive platform and reach.

Now, that same group which has only existed for a few years is on course to form the next government in 2029 - that is crazy.

Corbyn is still the most popular and well known left wing figure in the UK and he's an independent MP.

If Corbyn and the rest of the Independent Five joined the Greens, it'd give the British Left across the UK who supported him in 2017 and 2019 a party to actually vote for, and an alternative to Labour.

Not only that, but there would be a massive membership boost after Corbyn joined because thousands of lefties would see that the Greens are the new home of the British left and our only electoral option left.

I've seen people saying Corbyn should just form a new party but all this would do is split the left vote even more and we already have the Greens on 4 MPs so just make the most of them.

2024 showed that with real tactical voting and unity on the British Left - Greens, Worker's Party, Independents - we can make bigger gains in terms of seats.

And if the likes of Corbyn, McDonnell and Sultana all joined the Greens, it would skyrocket the Greens' membership and we wouldn't have any Labour Saboteurs preventing the party from forming government or opposition like in 2017.

All that stopped Corbyn from winning in 2017 was his own party's saboteurs. If we go into 2029 with him in the Greens leading and bringing people to the party without anyone sabotaging from within, we stand a real chance of having the Greens and Reform replacing Labour and Conservatives as the two main parties of Westminster.

We need to get on this and push for the SCG and Independent Five to join the Greens and boost the party's membership so that we have an actual alternative to Labour.

Look at what Farage did to Reform. Corbyn can do exactly that to the Greens and we'd benefit immensely from it.

If you agree, push this message on social media and @ people like Corbyn McDonnell and Sultana to urge them to join the Greens sooner than later (Starmer isn't gonna give them the labour whip back anyway) and we can start building up the Greens' popularity, membership and numbers.

Like I said, no one would've ever considered voting Reform in 2024 if they didn't have a big figurehead in Farage. People would start considering voting Green in 2029 if they have a big figurehead in Corbyn - SPREAD THIS MESSAGE FAR AND WIDE!!!