17/04/2026
Today in Parliament
BBC
4.4 • 162 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Who blinks first? A former government chief whip reveals to Alicia McCarthy the tensions behind the scenes as ministers try to get new laws on the statute book before the end of the parliamentary session. Also, a professor outlines the benefits of AI and MPs search for ideas to encourage visitors to the UK to go beyond London.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.1 | Order. Order. |
| 0:08.5 | Hello there, I'm Alyssa McCarthy, and this is today in Parliament from BBC Radio 4 for Friday the 17th of April, where a former Chief Whip reveals the tense negotiations as ministers battled to get laws passed before |
| 0:21.8 | the end of the parliamentary session. Somebody will blink first and we used to hope that they |
| 0:27.2 | would blink and they used to hope that we would blink. We probably both blinked. As a Commons |
| 0:32.5 | Committee looks at the impact of AI on the world of work, A leading academic argues it could be a force for good. |
| 0:40.0 | Discovering new drugs, new ways of dealing with problems. |
| 0:43.5 | It's going to change us fundamentally, but it could be very good for us if we think about it the right way. |
| 0:49.2 | And a Labour MP wants more companies to take up guidance to help prevent suicides. |
| 0:54.6 | I think this could produce a real step change by saying to people, |
| 0:58.6 | here's a plan for how we can support this and make sure that less people die by suicide. |
| 1:04.6 | It's just a few short weeks until it's time for this. |
| 1:18.9 | The trumpets and pageantry of the state opening of Parliament. |
| 1:24.0 | The next one will be on May the 13th and signals the start of a new session when the government puts forward bills it wants to turn into laws in the coming months. But before it can forward bills, it wants to turn into laws in the coming |
| 1:28.1 | months. But before it can do that, it has to finish dealing with all the legislation that's |
| 1:34.0 | currently going through the Commons and the Lords, and that means a frantic couple of weeks, |
| 1:39.0 | as MPs and peers swat unfinished business back and forth. The final scramble to the line means some bills, like the deal on the Chegos Islands, will be shelved. |
| 1:50.1 | Others, including controversial plans to limit the right to trial by jury in England and Wales, |
| 1:55.3 | will be carried over to the next session. |
| 1:58.0 | And some, like the Children, wellbeing and Schools Bill, which peers want to amend |
| 2:02.7 | to ban the use of social media by under 16s, are still being fought over. |
| 2:08.4 | Dr Ruth Fox is the director of the parliamentary think tank, the Hansard Society. I asked her why |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.