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The Royal Messenger | February Update
Royal Messenger Update - February 2022
66th Premiership of the United Kingdom | Regional Information Centre | 78th Session of Parliament |
His Majesty's Government Prime Minister: Alex Bauheim Home Secretary: Mark Hornsey Foreign Secretary: Owen Stewart Culture Secretary: Longdendale Bauheim Chancellor of the Exchequer: Francis Olorin Crown Court of the United Kingdom Crown Court Chief Judge: John Spencer-Talleyrand Chief Judge pro tempore: Constance St. James | The British Monarchy Sovereign: HM King James V & X Prince of Wales: HRH Prince Akillian Founded: November 10th, 2005 Ruling Family: The Royal House of Stewart -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- | The House of Lords Prince Akillian, Duke of Rothesay & Edinburgh (Speaker) Klaus, The Marquess of Belfast Francis, Baron Olórin of Millisle The House of Commons George Stewart (PP) of Ashford (Speaker) Owen Stewart (PP) of Nottingham South Angus Baker-Mountbatten (PP) of Sevenoaks Charles Washington (PP) of New England Alex Bauheim (PCP) of Eltham |
January 2022 General Election
Monday 16th January saw the opening of candidacy declarations for the General Election, which would consist of both the election for Prime Minister and the 5 seats that will make up the 78th session of the House of Commons. This election would be the first conducted under a new election system which sees the MP election being a 5 seat free-for-all where the 5 most voted candidates are elected. By the time candidacy declarations closed we had 3 candidates for Prime Minister consisting of Alex Bauheim (Progressive Conservatives Party), Chicão (Conservative Democrat party), and George Stewart (Progressive Party). In the MP election we had 11 candidates, the highest number of candidates in an election for quite a while.
The election for Prime Minister was a hotly contested one between Alex Bauheim and George Stewart, with newcomer Chicão also putting together a campaign. Alex Bauheim is a former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Owen Stewart and Akillian Talleyrand respectively and was seeking the keys to Number 10 for the first time. Alex’s campaign was focussed around changes to the military and the economy with the hope of reviving both. George Stewart is a former Prime Minister and served in a number of Cabinet roles, however, he was more recently known as the former King George VIII and only abdicated in December. George’s campaign could be found in the Progressive Party’s manifesto, which contained a number of proposals on all areas of the region. Chicão is a newcomer to the region and ran for Prime Minister not long after joining the region. They believed that under their premiership, there would be improvements for businesses and growth within the UKAF.
This election proved to be a really close one, no one felt confident enough to offer a prediction of how this would go. In the end, Alex Bauheim sprung a surprise and beat George Stewart 17 votes to 15, while Chicão only received 1 vote.
Moving on to the Member of Parliament elections, the large field of candidates meant that there was a lot of intrigue over what would happen with this election. The Progressive Party, fighting their first general election, had 4 candidates running for Parliament this term: George Stewart, Owen Stewart, Angus Baker-Mountbatten, and Charles Washington. While each of them had their own campaigns, their main focus was on the legislative agenda set out in the party’s manifesto. This was based around establishing employment law, amending the Admin Clerk Act, abolishing the Distinguished Citizens Act, and reviewing the Constituent Authority process.
The next largest party for candidates was Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein were represented by Klaus Mikaelson, the current Speaker, Aaron Reynolds-Bauheim, and Madeline Mikaelson. These candidates all ran on individual campaigns based around newcomer activity, wills and inheritance legislation, and clarifying local authority law.
The other main party in this election was the Progressive Conservative Party, represented by Alex Bauheim and John Olorin. Alex’s legislative campaign was centred around changes needed to accomplish his executive agenda, while John’s campaign focussed on the economy. Finally, there were 2 other candidates in the election consisting of the independent Francis Olorin and Chicão. Chicão didn’t really offer much in terms of legislative agenda. Francis’ campaign was centred around the passage of his previously proposed Committee’s Act, a Freedom of Information Act, and a Legislative Passage Act.
With such a large field of candidates, it was always going to be close in terms of who won the seats. However, when the polls closed, it was revealed that those elected were: Alex with 17 votes, George with 15 votes, Angus and Owen on 14 votes, and Charles on 13 votes. This means that all 4 Progressive Party candidates were elected, giving them the first single-party majority in Parliament since the 70th Session.
Government Update
Following Alex’s election as Prime Minister, his first order of business was to announce the creation of his Cabinet, which was announced as:
Foreign Secretary: Owen Stewart
Home Secretary: Mark Hornsey
Culture Secretary: Longdendale Bauheim
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Francis Olorin
The first major piece of business for the Government this term was a new Budget for the Government. This was proposed on the 31st January and contained a number of changes to previous budgets including the slimming down of public pay, increased post earnings, and a tax raise. After negotiations with the Progressive Party, which was led by the Foreign Secretary as a Progressive Party member in Government, the two groups were able to come to a compromise and passed the Budget.
The Home Office also had a busy start to the term. As well as running citizen checks, it has also restarted the mentor programme, offering new citizens the chance to work with more senior citizens in order to get a better understanding of the region at large. As well as this, the Home Office conducted the first citizen of the month for this term, with the vote being between last term’s PM John Alexander and BBC Director-General Ulrich Bauheim. John Alexander won this vote 8-4 to be named this month’s citizen of the month.
The Culture Office has also got a lot done in the early part of the term. As well as discord activities, the Office has been running a spam contest for citizens as well as the creation of a wordle league. Both of these competitions have created a sense of competitiveness and have been well received by the region.
Finally, the Foreign Office has been working a lot behind the scenes on a number of issues. As well as the creation and distribution of this update, the Foreign Office has been busy working on the revival of the United Kingdom Armed Forces. Also, in the upcoming days, the Foreign Office will be working on a state visit with one of our allies abroad as well as some other projects.
Parliament Update
Following the conclusion of the election, the first issue for the newly elected House of Commons is the election of a new Speaker. Father of the House George Stewart oversaw this election before becoming Speaker unopposed. The first bill presented to the House of Commons this term was the British Steel Corporation Act. This bill proposed creating the first state-owned business, ran by the Treasury in order to offer employment to citizens. During scrutiny of the bill, multiple MPs raised issues with the bill which saw it pulled from the House. However, a replacement bill was proposed, the State-Owned Enterprise Act which created a framework for state-owned businesses to be created. This was seen as more acceptable by the House and is currently being voted on.
The next piece of business for the House was the Committees Act, which moved over from the last session as it was not passed. This bill allowed for the creation of committees to scrutinise Government policy as well as legislative proposals. While there were some issues with the bill and a number of amendments passed, the bill ultimately passed the House of Commons and passed through the House of Lords unamended.
The next piece of business was the repeal of the Distinguished Citizens Act. This was proposed because it hasn’t been used since its establishment, so it’s repeal wasn’t controversial. This passed the House of Commons 5-0 and passed the House of Lords unopposed.
The final piece of legislative business for the House of Commons so far this term was the Budget. As mentioned in the Government Update, the Budget created offered a number of significant changes to how the economy is run. As such, there were a number of criticisms made of the budget and a lot of scrutiny was offered. Eventually, the Progressive Party and Government were able to come together and agreed on a series of compromises in order to get the Budget passed, which it did 5-0.
Finally, the House of Commons had to work on the reconfirmation of Senior Judge Akillian Talleyrand. This was pretty uncontroversial though and easily passed the House of Commons 5-0.
Crown Update
The Crown has been very active HM King James V & X ascended to the Throne. The first major event for the Crown was his Coronation on the 15th January. This event saw HM King James officially be sworn in as King of the United Kingdom and allowed the region to officially celebrate the accession. Alongside this, HM announced a couple of Accession Honours, seeing John Alexander being bestowed Viscount of Stirling, Klaus Mikaelson being made a Knight, and Silver Steps was made a Companion of the Order. In order to celebrate the Coronation, the Crown also commissioned the creation of a commemorative coin which could be purchased to remember the event.
Following on from the Coronation, the Crown was able to oversee his first General Election with Alex Bauheim becoming the first Prime Minister elected under his reign. This also allowed for the King to take part in his first State Opening of Parliament and the introduction of a Royal Approbation for the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Finally, HM King James has embarked on a trip to New England to celebrate the creation of the first Constituent Authority under the new devolution setup. This trip sees the King touring the Dominion and taking part in a number of events, including a speech to the residents of New England and an investiture ceremony for Silver Steps and the city of Boston.
