The following statement was issued today by the Speaker of the House, the Hon. Dennis Lister, JP, MP.
The Convening of the next Session of the Legislature will be on Friday, 5 November 2021.
The Government’s legislative agenda will be set out in the Speech from the Throne, which will be delivered for the first time by Her Excellency the Governor, Ms. Rena Lalgie.
Following Public Health guidelines, this year’s Convening will be attended by a small group of members and it will be conducted without the customary ceremonial fanfare. The ceremony will take place in the legislative chamber at Veritas Place.
Until 1999, it was customary for the Throne Speech to be delivered in the Upper House (The Senate). Since then, the Throne Speech was read outdoors to allow members of the public to attend. However, on this occasion, the Chamber will be deemed the Upper House for the reading of the Throne Speech as traditionally, the Governor is not allowed to enter the Lower House.
The proceedings begin at 10:45am with the arrival of Her Excellency the Governor. Once formal proceedings have concluded, the House will recess for 30 minutes to allow members to return to their respective offices to conduct the Order of Business virtually.
After the virtual sitting of the House of Assembly, the Senate will then conduct its business virtually.
Note: The Speech from the Throne will be carried live on CITV and on Government’s Facebook page. The proceedings of both the House of Assembly and Senate will be broadcast live on 105.1FM and streamed live on parliament.bm.