Summary
Sean Curran reports on the ballot for backbench MPs to get the chance to bring in their own laws and an inquiry into England's water supply issues finds the taps could run dry. Also, what are the Chiltern Hundreds and why can't MPs just quit their job like the rest of us?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.1 | Order! Order. |
| 0:08.6 | Hello, I'm Sean Curran, and this is today in Parliament from BBC Radio 4 for Friday the 22nd of May. |
| 0:16.0 | Coming up in the programme, what next for the assisted dying bill after this week's ballot for private members' bills? |
| 0:23.0 | If they are able to persuade the MP in second position to take this bill forward, |
| 0:28.2 | I think they've got a reasonable chance, but I think it has to be said it will be difficult. |
| 0:32.7 | A parliamentary inquiry into England's water supply issues a stark warning in the wake of last summer's drought. |
| 0:39.7 | What the committee found was that the taps could run dry. And a group of MPs offers its |
| 0:47.3 | prescription to keep older people happy and healthy. What we need people to do is to think about |
| 0:53.0 | small changes they can make to their day-to-day lives |
| 0:55.4 | and find ways to help to build up their muscle. |
| 0:59.3 | But first, on Thursday morning, MPs headed to Committee Room 16 in the House of Commons |
| 1:04.6 | to find out if they'd won Parliament's biggest raffle. |
| 1:08.7 | Order, order. |
| 1:13.3 | The ballot draw for the private members' bills for this session is about to take place. 485 members have entered the ballot this year, and that's the |
| 1:20.3 | most amount for the last 10 years. We will draw 20 numbers in reverse order of precedence from 20th to their first. |
| 1:28.7 | That was the Deputy Speaker Nasrat Ghani, who was overseeing this year's ballot for private members' bills. |
| 1:34.6 | Wearing a morning coat and white gloves, |
| 1:37.0 | Nasrat Garny stood next to a clerk in ceremonial dress as they drew numbered balls from a large glass bowl. |
| 1:43.8 | After a few minutes, it was time to reveal which MP will have the best chance of seeing a new law make it to the statute book. |
| 1:52.3 | We now come to the member who gets the first pick of the Fridays allocated to private members' bills. |
| 1:58.6 | The winner of the 2026 ballot is... |
... |
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