the legislative process

• Legislative stages in the House of Lords and House of Commons:

  • First reading: formal procedure where the name and main aims of the Bill are read out
  • Second reading: where the main debate of the whole bill takes place
  • Committee stage: a detailed examination of each clause of the bill is undertaken by a committee of between 16-50 MPs, usually done by a standing committee chosen specifically for the bill
  • Report stage: committee reports back to the House on any amendments made
  • Third reading: the final vote on the bill
• If a bill starts in the House of Commons, it is then passed to the House of Lords where it goes through the same 5 stages
• When a proposed law has been drafted, it is published and called a bill
• Public bills involve matters of public policy that affect either the whole country or a large section of it
• Private bills are designed to pass a law that will affect only individual people or corporations
• Hybrid bills are a cross between public and private bills, introduced by the government, but if they become law, they will affect a particular person, organization, or place
• The House of Commons proposes most bills; if the House of Commons votes against a bill, it ends there
• The House of Lords acts as a check on the House of Commons; all bills go through the House of Lords as members can vote against proposed changes to the law
• The House of Lords is limited by the Parliament Act 1911 and 1949, which allow a bill to become law even if the House of Lords rejects it
• The final stage of the legislative process is where the monarch formally gives approval to the bill, making it an Act of Parliament and part of the Law of the Land
• Following Royal Assent, the Act of Parliament will come into force at midnight of that day, unless another date has been set
• Very few acts are implemented immediately; instead, the act itself states the date when it will commence or passes responsibility on to the appropriate minister to fix the commencement date
• Green papers and white papers are used in the legislative process to consult on and propose new laws
• Each government minister has a department of civil servants and advisors responsible for drafting ideas for law changes
• A green paper is a consultative document with outline proposals for reform, while a white paper contains firm proposals for new law or draft legislation
• MPs, known as 'backbenchers,' can introduce bills into parliament through a ballot or the ten-minute rule
• Advantages of Private Members Bills include their democratic nature, ability to reform whole areas of law in one act, and setting broad policies that delegate legislation