Bills:
Types:
Public Bills.
EG: money related bills.
Private Bills.
EG: affecting corporations.
Hybrid Bills (part Public and Private).
EG: building railway line, channel tunnel, HS2.
Origins:
Government Department (Usually) > Cabinet > Queens / Kings Speech > Parliamentary Counsel > Bill
The government is usually the one to introduce a bill to Parliament since it is the government that has the power to control Parliament's agenda.
Legislative Stages:
Ideal Stages: Green Paper > White Paper > Draft Bill > Bill Introduced to Parliament > Parliamentary Scrutiny > Royal Assent > Enactment > Ongoing Legislative Scrutiny
First Reading:
Usually on the floor of House of Commons and accompanied with explanatory notes, the bill is read out without debate.
Second Reading:
On the floor of House of Commons. Debate over the principles of the bill begin.
Committee Stage:
A committee makes a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill and introduces amendments.
Evidence can be taken from witnesses (EG: civil servants, ministers, experts etc.).
Difference Between Houses:
In the House of Commons, there is usually a public or private bill committee. It is only occasionally that there is a committee comprised of the whole house. Membership is proportional to the political parties in the house. If a government has a majority in the House of Commons, they have a majority in the committee.
‘On the floor of the House the size of the chamber protect the Minister to some extent. But in smaller committee rooms, the Minister is face to face with his critics at close range.’ [1] It is within committees that a bill is really scrutinised and challenged.
In the House of Lords, the committee is usually of the whole house. Occasionally there is a Grand Committee.
Amendments:
The government or opposition can make amendments.
‘The purpose of many Opposition amendments is not to make the bill more generally acceptable but to make the Government generally less acceptable.’ [2] Not necessarily true.
A study of 12 bills introduced by Labour and Labour Coalitions between 2005 and 2012 show that over 4000 amendments were proposed: 800+ by the government (100+ of which were concessions / agreement) and 23 defeats in the House of Lords. [3] This shows that Parliament does actively scrutinise the government and the bills they introduce.
Report Stage:
A report on the amended bill is presented on the floor of the House of Commons.
Amendments:
The government or opposition can make amendments.
Third Reading:
On the floor of the House of Commons, there is brief debate on the final text, but a bill is usually approved if it reaches this stage.
Ping Pong between the House of Lords and the House of Commons:
The bill gets passed (potentially several times) between the House of Lords and the House of Commons to discuss amendments where there is disagreement.
House of Lords:
Bill undergoes similar stages in the House of Lords.
The House of Lords can amend the bill. If this happens, it will return to the House of Commons.
Consideration of Lord’s Amendments by the Commons:
On the floor of the House of Commons, debate over the House of Lords amendments occur. If the House of Commons does not agree, the House of Lords may be superseded using Parliament Acts. [4]
Royal Assent:
Assent is given by the monarch, though not personally. This is a formal event – last denied in 1708 and last given in person in 1854. Usually sent by Letters Patent under the Great Seal.
Enactment:
A Bill becomes an Act of Parliament and legally binding either upon royal assent or at a stipulated time.
This satisfies the requirement that laws are made by the ‘Queen in Parliament’ (now 'King in Parliament'), as the House of Commons, House of Lords and monarch have all come together to legislate. [5]
A minister may not ‘frustrate the will of Parliament expressed in a statute’ by declining to bring an Act into force by use of their other powers. [6]
Scrutinising Legislation:
What is Scrutinised:
Bills and their amendments.
Minister in charge of the Bill.
The government and its policy that it reflected in the bill.
Mechanisms of Scrutinising Legislation:
Ultimately, it is politicians who determine whether an Act is valid and binding, not the judiciary. This is born of the idea that legislation created and reviewed by politicians is more likely to accord with the wishes of those who democratically elect them. [7] Another reason is that Parliament is better suited to determine questions of public interest than a court is, hence legitimising parliamentary supremacy. [8]
Ping Pong:
Where the Houses disagree, the bill gets repeatedly passed between them until they do agree. Creates a positive feedback loop. However, the House of Commons can invoke Parliament Acts to supersede the House of Lords if they don’t agree.
Special Scrutiny:
The Joint Committee on Human Rights comprises of 12 members from each House. Their purpose is to scrutinise all bills that have human rights issues.
The House of Lords Constitution Committee assesses the impact of public bills on the constitution and wider political issues. Where necessary, they produce a report that has recommendations for the government.
Parliamentary Dissent:
MPs can vote against the bills proposed by their party if they disagree with them. However, the opposition party usually compensates for the loss of votes.
Proposed Reforms:
More draft bills and pre-legislative scrutiny.
Use of standards / ‘checklist’ for scrutiny in committees. [9]
Post-legislative scrutiny / review.
EG: in courts (like in other jurisdictions).
References:
[1] JAG Griffith, Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government Bills (1st edn, Allen & Unwin 1974) 232 [2] JAG Griffith ‘Standing Committees in the House of Commons’ in Walkland and Ryle (eds) The Commons Today (1981) [3] Meg Russell and Daniel Glover, Legislation at Westminster: Parliamentary Actors and Influence in the Making of British Law (Oxford University Press 2017) [4] Parliament Act 1911 & 1949 [5] Sir Ivor Jennings, The Law and the Constitution (5th edn, London: University of London Press 1959) 137–8 [6] R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Fire Brigades Union [1995] UKHL 3 [7] Albert V Dicey, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885; 10th edn, London: Macmillan & Co. 1959) 59 [8] Andrew P. Le Sueur, Jo Eric Murkens, and Maurice Sunkin, Public Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th edn, Oxford University Press 2019) 379 [9] D. Oliver ‘Improving the scrutiny of Bills: The case for standards and checklists’ [2006] Public Law 219, 219–20, 226–7
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