At the time of writing, the Queen’s Speech on the Opening of Parliament has just been delivered but media coverage is now centring around the General Election.

As Her Majesty’s Speech made it clear, despite political debate and impending elections, the government of the nation must continue … debates will still take place about healthcare, education, social services, security, the economy and the many other aspects involved in managing the affairs of the UK. It is these, the issues involved in debates and in committee, that are covered by the features in the Parliamentary Yearbook. My appreciation goes out to all the contributors and everyone who has been involved in the book’s production.

I trust that you, the reader, will as ever find much of interest within its pages. I am however always anxious to receive feed-back about the book and I should be delighted to hear from any of our readers with any comments or suggestions for improvements.

David Blake
Publisher