Legislative function

• What are public bills?

  Bills involving the entire population these include government and private member bills
• What are private bills?

  Bills that affect specific individuals or organisations rather than the general public . e.g University of Manchester act involves the fusing if two Manchester universities in 2004
• What are government bills?

  Majority of bills passed due to the governments control of the timetable - seek to fulfil manifesto commitments or government agenda
• What are private member bills?

  Bills proposed by backbenchers
• Any notable private members bills?

  Assaults on emergency workers act 2018

  Abortion act 1967
• Issues with private member bills?

  Little time in parliamentary calendar for them , susceptible to filibustering
• Three ways PMB's can be introduced?

  1. Ballot -Mp's wanting to introduce a PMB enter into a ballot , 20 MP's are chosen at random to propose the bill once in the parliamentary session - positive is guaranteed timetable slot
  2. Ten minute rule bills - backbenchers make their case in a speech , house then decides if they want to introduce the bill - uncommon to work as they arent given priority , often used just to critique legislation
  3. Presentation - Mp's introduce a PMB but don't speak to support - very unlikely of success
• What happens before bills enter the house of commons stage?

  They start with a consultation ( green paper ) which then may be turned into a firm proposal ( white paper ) which committees comment on before drafting
• In what order do bills go through commons , lords and crown?

  If a bill starts in commons it goes through the commons first , then lords before going back to commons to approve amendments and then to royal assent .
• What stages does a bill go through in the commons before the lords?

  1. First reading - the bill is formally introduced and the second readings date is set
  2. Second reading - A minister outlines , proposes and justifies the bill , principles of the bill are discussed and contended between shadow ministers and backbenchers)
  3. Committee stage - Public bill committee scrutinises
  4. Report stage - Mp's propose and vote on amendments , committee amendments are also voted on
  5. Third reading - no major amending , the bill is looked at and debated before being accepted or rejected
• What is the role of the House of Lords in the amendment process?

  Offering technical amendments to improve the bill , due to the unelected nature of HofL large changes dont occur unless there are bills which are highly unpopular with the public e.g EU withdrawals agreement was sent back to HofC 5 times with amendments , however the HofL eventually backed down in recognition of the democratic mandate of HofC
• What is parliamentary ping-pong?

  If a house fails to agree to the amendments of the other houses , bills go back and forth . This is evident with the 2021 trade act where ping pong occured 6 times because the HofL attempted to make amendments to prevent trade deals with countries guilty of genocide . The bill began in 2020 and took over a year to pass .
• How does the salisbury convention limit the HofL ?


  The HofL should not block any bill pledged to be passed in the manifesto of the ruling government as the government may have been elected due to this manifesto point , therefore it is the will of the people and not to be blocked by an unelected body . Debate whether this applies in coalition or minority govts .
• How do the parliament acts of 1911 and 1949 limit the House of Lords?

  1911: Parliament Act gave no right to HofL to amend financial bills and previous veto power was replaced with power to delay bills for two years 1949: Parliament Act further reduced Lords' power to delay bills from two years to one
• Secondary legislation?

  Changes to previous bills , changes are made instantly into law unless there is parliamentary opposition which are uncommon e.g New substances are being continuously added to the misuse of drugs act 1971 .
• How the house of commons legislative scrutiny has decreased

  Time mp's spend debating legislation has decreased , mp's spend 24% of their time in the chamber compared with 44% for peers .

  Only around 10% of government bills passed by parliament receive pre-legislative scrutiny ( when white and green papers )

  Recently bills have been rushed through parliament receiving little scrutiny . A precedent set by Brexit and Covid to rush bills e.g government gave committee 2 days for the illegal migration bill compared with 2016 immigration act which had 15 committee sessions