19 April 2017 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
The big news this week is of course yesterday’s General Election announcement which, provided the vote goes through parliament today as expected, will see the election take place on the 8th June. While the impact of the announcement on the legislative programme is yet unknown, the dissolution of parliament prior to the six-week electioneering period means that the already squeezed timescales for legislation are shaken up by pre-election politicking. What this means for the troubled HE Bill – still yet to face its toughest test in the Commons – is anyone’s guess.
The Times Higher believe the Bill is under threat of effectively being abandoned, and similar thoughts are expressed by Wonkhe deputy editor David Morris, although his expectations lean towards the Bill being rushed through in the next few weeks. A blog post by HEPI is less ‘optimistic’, and suggests that the government must make some sizeable concessions in order to see the Bill passed, in any form, at all. Time will tell.
