Primary legislation is: "New Laws"
Secondary legistion are laws which are needed to facilitate the implementation of the Primary Legislation. (Except for orders in council, which are exceptional)
Secondary bills are also known as subordinate or delegated legislation.
Public Bills - Bills introduced by Government/individual Ministers, and "intended to change the general law of the land". Recent examples include the NHS Bill proposing the introduction of foundation hospitals and the Higher Education Bill outlining university top-up fees.
-Private Member's Bills / PMBs - Bills introduced by individual MPs. They rarely become law as they are not given the necessary time by the Government to be able to go through all the normal stages legislation must pass through to be enacted. PMBs can be introduced in one of three ways: (a) by 20 MPs successful in a ballot to present them on one of 13 Priate Member's Bills Fridays; (b) under the Ten-Minute Rule or under Standing Order 57 (presented in writing on PMB Fridays).
Types of Secondary Legislation:
(c) Private Bills - Usually called for by individual local authorities or other bodies or individuals to enable them to extend their powers or authorise them to carry out projects local to a specific area of the country (e.g. major railway works, the building of new roads or extensions to harbours). A Private Bill was granted to allow Grand Prix racing on the streeets of Birmingham in the mid- 1980s
(d) Hybrid Bills - Legislation introduced as Public Bills, but which are seen to affect certain "private interests" in a disproportionate way (e.g. Land Bill in Scotland)
- Orders in Council - Submitted by Ministers for approval by the Sovereign at a meeting of the Privy Council. A draft of this is normally agreed by Parliament before it is submitted by the Minister. This is the system used to introduce much of the delegated legislation relating to Northern Ireland. (Consideration: Diego Garcia)
- Statutory Instruments - Issued by Ministers to flesh out the detail of new Enabling Acts or update detail in existing ones, but also require the formal agreement of Parliament. The Act will usually specify whether an affirmative or negative agreement is required to obtain Parliament's agreement (the former means that a statutory instrument will not come into play unless Parliament formally approves a resolution, while the latter means that an instrument will automatically come into effecct if, after 40 days, no resolution has been passed objecting to it).
- Bylaws - Localised "laws" passed on the approval of the relevant government Minister, the scope for which is enshrined in an existing Act of Parliament (e.g. city-centre street drinking bans)
The Passage of a Bill
Unlike other types of primary legislation, Government Bills (Public Bills) start with an initial consultation called a Green Paper. There are refined through consultationwith interested parties, becoming a White Paper. All primary Bills must go through the following stages:
- First Reading - Reading out the Bull's full title in the House of Commons (date usually set for next stage to happen within days)
- Second Reading - The "General Principles" of the Bill outlined, and an initial debate held (sometimes with a vote)
- Committee Stage - Detailed consideration of he main clauses in the Bill by a standing committee set up to consider it. Sometimes this is carried out by the Commons itself, as a 'committee of the whole house'.
- Report Stage - The committee's recommendations and observations are referred to the Commons in the form of a written report, and further amendments can follow before the Bill proceeds to it's Third Reading. This stage often involves late sittings.
- Third Reading - Bill reviewed and debated in it's final intended form. At this stage, all opportuniteies for Commons to make amendments have passed, but Lords still allowed to. Once a Bill is amended a third time it passes automatically into the Lords.
- The House of Lords - Bill formally referred to the Lords (or "another place"). Here it follows much the same stages as in Commons, but this time its Committee sstage in usually taken on the floor of the House.
Parliament Act
Royal Assent - Final seal of approval for a Bill which turns it into an Act of Parliament. This had not been refused since 1707.
Prime Minister's Questions -
The Barnett Formula -
PM denies ordering briefing against darling
Gordon Brown has denied ordering the "forces of hell" to be unleashed on Alistair Darling when he predicted the recession would be worse than expected.
Minute by Minute report on PMsQs from guardian politics blog -
12.32pm: DNA
Brown says the Tory plans to restrict the DNA database would damage public safety.
Types of parliamentary questions
Questions tend to be split up into two broad categories:
- Questions for Written Anwer (include Private Notice Questions passed to Ministers by backbench MNPs for detailed written answers.
-
- Adjournment Debates - A useful means by which MPs can raise issues of concrern to their constituents, they can be held on one fo three types of occasionL (a) in a 30 minute period just before the House adjourns for the night and the end of each business day; (b) over three hours, before the House adjourns for each Summer Recess; or (c) on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, under the terms of the Jopling Reforms...
- Early Day Motions - This is a means by which an MP will try to engage the support of other members for his or her views on a subject, enabling him or her to table a written parliamentary record...
- The Guillotine / Allocation of Time Motion - means by which Govt of day can apply to The Speaker for permission to draw a line formally under debate on a particular clause of a Bill, etc.
It was in the late 19th century around one of the many proposals for home rule in Ireland... not only involving Irish MPs. When this idea came in it was after a particular occasion that the debate kept rolling for over three weeks. (or something like - 72 days)
Filibustering - Way in which some MPs (especially Opposition ones) try to waste time by "Talking Bills out" if they do not approve of proposed government legisltion. The guillotine was introduce their ability to do this (clamped down on after 1887)
- The Kangaroo ...
- Motion of Closure - Speaker agrees to set a deadline for a vote to be taken on a specific motion...
Role of the Opposition
- To hold the Government to account for ti's actions by appointinga Shadow Cabinet composed fo spokesmen on the main departmental briefs.
- To contribute to legislative process by proposing amendments to Bills
- To set out its policies as an alternative government using designated Opposition Days, which are schemed into the Parliamentary timetable to allow it, rather than the Government, to dictate the flow of Commons business. Each Parliamentary Session, there are 20 Opposition Days in total, 15 of which go to the largest Opposition party and three to the third largest party).
The Role of the Speaker
- Controlling debates including deciding when debates on specific subjects should end and be voted on, and suspending or adjourning sittings if debtes get out of hnd (debate over the Hutton Report was recently suspended by the current Speaker, John Bercow, after protesters invaded the public gallery in the Commons)
- Certifying some Bills as "Money Bill" (eg The Budget), which stops the Lords delaying their passage
- Ordering MPs who have broken the rules of the Commons to leave the chamber (this has happened on several occasions to the Democratic Unionist party leader, Reverend Ian Paisley, when he has accused fellow MPs of "lying" - a term expressly banned from the chamber by parliamentary convention).
The Role of the Speaker
- Signing warrants such as that used to commit members to prison for contempt of the House. (never ever ever ever ever used. Ever)
- Chairing the House of Commons Commissiion (the main body which administers the procedures of the Commons)
- Notionally charing the newly formed Electoral Commission (formally the Boundary Commissions), which determins the size and shape of constituentcies, and polices MP's expenses and party funding.
Role of the Electoral Commission
- The Electorla Commissions' role is..
- They police internal party elections - Peter Hain etc...
Harriet Harman
12.32pm: DNA
Brown says the Tory plans to restrict the DNA database would damage public safety.
- http://www.medindia.net/news/Postcode-Lottery-For-Rape-Convictions-Still-Prevails-In-UK-52924-1.htm
Types of parliamentary questions
Questions tend to be split up into two broad categories:
- Questions for Written Anwer (include Private Notice Questions passed to Ministers by backbench MNPs for detailed written answers.
-
- Adjournment Debates - A useful means by which MPs can raise issues of concrern to their constituents, they can be held on one fo three types of occasionL (a) in a 30 minute period just before the House adjourns for the night and the end of each business day; (b) over three hours, before the House adjourns for each Summer Recess; or (c) on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, under the terms of the Jopling Reforms...
- Early Day Motions - This is a means by which an MP will try to engage the support of other members for his or her views on a subject, enabling him or her to table a written parliamentary record...
- The Guillotine / Allocation of Time Motion - means by which Govt of day can apply to The Speaker for permission to draw a line formally under debate on a particular clause of a Bill, etc.
It was in the late 19th century around one of the many proposals for home rule in Ireland... not only involving Irish MPs. When this idea came in it was after a particular occasion that the debate kept rolling for over three weeks. (or something like - 72 days)
Filibustering - Way in which some MPs (especially Opposition ones) try to waste time by "Talking Bills out" if they do not approve of proposed government legisltion. The guillotine was introduce their ability to do this (clamped down on after 1887)
- The Kangaroo ...
- Motion of Closure - Speaker agrees to set a deadline for a vote to be taken on a specific motion...
Role of the Opposition
- To hold the Government to account for ti's actions by appointinga Shadow Cabinet composed fo spokesmen on the main departmental briefs.
- To contribute to legislative process by proposing amendments to Bills
- To set out its policies as an alternative government using designated Opposition Days, which are schemed into the Parliamentary timetable to allow it, rather than the Government, to dictate the flow of Commons business. Each Parliamentary Session, there are 20 Opposition Days in total, 15 of which go to the largest Opposition party and three to the third largest party).
The Role of the Speaker
- Controlling debates including deciding when debates on specific subjects should end and be voted on, and suspending or adjourning sittings if debtes get out of hnd (debate over the Hutton Report was recently suspended by the current Speaker, John Bercow, after protesters invaded the public gallery in the Commons)
- Certifying some Bills as "Money Bill" (eg The Budget), which stops the Lords delaying their passage
- Ordering MPs who have broken the rules of the Commons to leave the chamber (this has happened on several occasions to the Democratic Unionist party leader, Reverend Ian Paisley, when he has accused fellow MPs of "lying" - a term expressly banned from the chamber by parliamentary convention).
The Role of the Speaker
- Signing warrants such as that used to commit members to prison for contempt of the House. (never ever ever ever ever used. Ever)
- Chairing the House of Commons Commissiion (the main body which administers the procedures of the Commons)
- Notionally charing the newly formed Electoral Commission (formally the Boundary Commissions), which determins the size and shape of constituentcies, and polices MP's expenses and party funding.
Role of the Electoral Commission
- The Electorla Commissions' role is..
- They police internal party elections - Peter Hain etc...
Harriet Harman
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