Law Making - Legislative stages of making a bill. (copy) (copy)

Topic 1

First Reading

A formal procedure where the name and purpose of the bill are read out.

Second Reading

The most important stage as this is where the main debate happens regarding the whole bill and focuses mostly on the main details of the bill, allows the MPs' to discuss whether they want the bill to be passed as a law, at the end a vote takes place and needs a majority to proceed into next stages.

Committee Stage

A detailed examination of each clause of the bill is done by the general committee which consists of MPs which have an expertise in that subject area of the bill, this committee can consist of between 16 and 50 members. This committee can suggest any amendments to the bill.

Report Stage

Committee members report back to the whole House of Commons on any amendments that were suggested, these amendments must be accepted or rejected by the whole house however, if there are no amendments then this stage is missed.

Third Reading

Final reading of the bill, is also a formality procedure since the bill has already passed so many stages it is unlikely it will fail.

House of Lords (or House of Commons if the bill started in HoL)

The bill is passed to the House of Lords where the same five stages happen like above (First reading, Second reading, Committee Stage, Report Stage and Third Stage); if the house of lords make any amendments then the bill must be passed to the house of commons where they consider the amendments, if there any disagreements then the bill will be passed back and forth until an agreement is reached, this is known as ping pong. However, if the House of Lords rejects the bill then it will be delayed for a year before the House of Commons can pass it without the consent of the House of Lords.

Royal Assent

The final stage where the monarch formally approves the bill which then becomes an act of parliament, this is now a formality which does not require the monarch to sign physically and consent is never refused.