Paper 2 law

• Law is made in parliament as an act in form of a bill


  1. Introduced by the promoter from the relevant government department

  2. Introduced on green paper as a consultative document for feedback

  3. Drafted onto white paper for an introduction in parliament to increase chances of success

  4. Promoter outlines the bill's purpose in the house of commons

  5. Copies of the bill distributed to interested MPs

  6. 2nd reading with chance of debate and discussion

  7. MPs may give a speech

  8. Promoter may consider any amendments

  9. Vote taken for further progression

  10. Committee stage with detailed scrutiny by 16-50 MPs

  11. Report stage with amendments reported back to the house of commons

  12. 3rd reading with last chance for discussion

  13. Amendments may be made

  14. Bill passed down to the house of lords

  15. House of lords goes through the same procedure

  16. House of lords may object or refuse the bill

  17. If accepted, bill sent to the royal assent for the law to be made official

  18. Monarch must sign it
• Advantage of parliament law making


  • They are elected by their constituents so it is like our own voice in parliament who make law on out behalf which is good for their constituents
  • They can reject bad or unpopular laws and we can remove them at elections if not satisfied
• Law making process in parliament


  1. Several stages where the bill is debated to ensure its improved and democratic

  2. Both houses (650 MPs and 700 lords) check on the quality and their different opinions improve the contents

  3. Prevents abuse of government power
• Commons authority over the lords


  Can use the parliaments act
• Private members bills procedure


  Allow individual MPs to introduce bills on behalf of constituents or a good cause
• Disadvantages of parliament law making


  • MPs tend to vote with their party ignoring constituents wishes which is undemocratic
  • Government controls the commons as it has the most number of MPs so its bills rarely fail
  • Process is slow and detailed as some bills run out of time and fail which looses the bills original intention
  • Lords have a big say on whether the bill is made into law or not as they can choose to object the bill and are unelected and have no constituents to answer to and can even block the will of the democratically elected commons
  • Some lords are old and out of touch and some are hereditary peers
  • Parliament acts cannot be ignored as its undemocratic to ignore then as they have valuable input
  • Private member bills have low chance of success because of low support only 20 MPs a year are allowed to raise one and may be disallowed due to lack of time