Parliamentary law making

The bodies of Parliament

The House of Commons is elected and therefore the supreme law maker. The hours of lords holds an advisory role as they are unelected and the Crown holds only a ceremonial sign off role now.

Legislative agenda

Largely controlled by the Parliament this is the set of bills being discussed and what stage of the law making process they are in. Other groups can try to introduce new bills my convincing Parliament they should using lobbying

Public bills

Most common, introduced by the government, involves matters of public policy e.g. legal services act 2007

Private bills

Bills introduced to deal with a single entity or a small group of people e.g. Faversham Oyster Fisheries Bill 2008

Private member’s bill

Introduced by individual MPs, relatively few become laws, they can be introduced by a ten minute speech introducing the law or a ballot supported by at least 20 MPs e.g. Abortion Act 1967

Hybrid Bills

Introduced by government but will only affect a few people mostly used to deal with infrastructure. E.g. cross rail bills

Stages of bill becoming law

1. Bill is drafted - it will be one of the four types

2. First reading - bills title and subtitle are read in Parliament

3. Second reading the whole bill is read in Parliament

4. Committee stage - any stakeholders in the bill will be consulted and discuss areas that may need review and change them if needs be.

5. The report stage - the bill can be read by all MPs and concerns can be raised in parliament and amendments can be made

6. The third reading - read for the final time and voted on whether it will pass

7. Passed to the other house - The HoL will be given it if it passes the vote and can repeat the steps or send it back for amendment if it fails to vote

8. Royal assent- once having passed all other stages the Crown receives the title of the bill and basically has to sign off on it

Features of a bill

Name of statute, long title, date of passing, section part/ provisions , date of application

Advantages of our system

Democratically elected officials draft and vote on the bill and have the most power in the process

Private members can propose bills

Expertise and experience available in the House of Lords without the pressure of politics to cloud their judgement

Disadvantage of the system

Can be a slow process

House of Lords is unelected and features bishops

Disputes about interpretation hav to be handled by the courts