Our Panel Conversations are a regular monthly event in Westminster Hall.

Lunchtime Conversations are open to MPs, Peers and all parliamentary staff.

The Bangladesh elections, two weeks on

This Lunchtime Conversation on 24th February will take place a fortnight after the Bangladesh elections. We will explore what the results mean for the future of Bangladesh. With a panel of experts, including Baroness Winterton who is the UK Trade Envoy to Bangladesh, we examine what happens next and discover the most pressing issues facing this Commonwealth nation. 

Chaired by Apsana Begum MP, the panellists are:

• Baroness Winterton, UK Trade Envoy to Bangladesh
• Abida Islam, High Commissioner of Bangladesh in the UK
• Chietigj Bajpaee, Senior Research Fellow for South Asia, Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House
• Sohela Nazneen, Research Fellow at Institute of Development Studies.

Our most recent CPA panel conversations:

Parliamentarians and Social Media

The January Lunchtime Conversation  focussed on how parliamentarians can use social media for good despite the many legitimate concerns that surround it such as misinformation, toxicity, abuse, problematic algorithms and now X’s AI tool, Grok.

Reducing the Voting Age

The Lunchtime Conversation before Christmas was about lowering the voting age to 16. Parliamentarians from Guernsey were on the panel, sharing their experiences of reducing the voting age where they live. 

AI in Parliament

In October, the Editor of The House magazine, Francis Elliott, chaired an insightful discussion about the use of AI in Parliament. The panellists were Mark Sewards MP,  Dr Luke Evans MP and Nusrat Ghani MP, who is also Principal Deputy Speaker.

Threats to Democracy

Before the summer recess we held a Lunchtime Conversation to mark one year of a new parliament. It was about threats to democracy and how parliamentarians cope with those threats. Read more about the event.

Keep up to date with our Lunchtime Conversations by going to the weekly All Party Notices (APN).