He was her head of comms briefly

this was the story www.theguardian.com/society/arti...

Thanks :)

Like i day in the article if this was about policy making then ballot thresholds and political fund contributions wouldn’t have been held up as well. it’s negotiation, which isn’t necessarily effective policy making

That and convention, though when act was passed it wasn’t anticipated would get bills this long with so many opportunities for amendments and mechanics of the act not really fit for purpose for something like this, so needs updating regardless.

So would it be fair to say that brexit sought of exposed how ill-equipped a lot of the media was to cover something seriously?

Agree though that a sensible government would isolate the parliament act to make it explicit about manifesto promised

That’s also not what happened- what happened is a small group of unions grew impatient (because the movement desperately needs even these modest reforms) and instigated the talks (with a willing government). That’s not policy making, that’s ransoming

It was widely accepted that the Lords doesn’t do more than one knock back on explicit manifesto pledges (and that was the logic that informed manifesto wording in the run up to the election). the power of delay wasn’t envisaged as being able to delay for so long

But without a review and overhaul of our fiscal framework, the chancellor will remain trapped in this doom-loop at every budget to come. That's why we're arguing for a new approach👇🏽
neweconomics.org/2025/08/a-de...

Would add that the Lords being ridiculous with trade unions is nothing new, just look at Rookes v Barnard in 1964 (used a case from the 1700s involving shipping vessels), which was an attempt to undermine the 1906 immunities. The standards are different when it’s organised labour.

I think our media eco-system is broken

I think the under explored aspect of this is the handful of unions and the TUC that secretly got together to find a way through, but because the unions involved make up about 50% of entire trade union density in the country (maybe slightly more) the others just have to lump it