Bills in the British Commons
Five Stages through Which a Bill Must Pass in the UK’s Lower House
New laws cannot be creating by Parliament unless they have passed a number of stages and been agreed upon in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and then been given the Royal Assent. This process of law-making is vitally important and so the correct procedure must always be followed. In the House of Commons alone, there are five stage which a Bill must pass through and only if its passage through the Commons is successful will it move on to consideration in the House of Lords.
First Reading
The First Reading is effectively a way of letting the Members of Parliament know that a Bill is coming up for discussion. If, as sometime occurs, a Bill has not been drafted at the time of the First Reading then a ‘dummy’ Bill can be placed on the table during the First Reading since, at this stage, Parliament does not need to know the actual contents of the Bill. A date for the Second Reading must be set during the First Reading. Traditionally, the date is always set for ‘tomorrow’ since that is the earliest possible date available and it is often not possible to pinpoint what the exact date will in reality be.
Second Reading
This is the stage where the Minister in charge of the Bill explains what it is about and, if the House votes for the Bill, it is transferred to the Committee Stage.
Committee Stage
The Committee Stage is the time when the content of the Bill is considered in detail. Government Bills tend to be considered by Standing Committees of between 15 and 60 MPs. The Committee members may suggest changes and alterations to the Bill being considered and the Committee as a whole will vote on whether the proposed changes should be implemented.
If the Bill being considered is particularly controversial, then it may be debated by a Committee of the Whole House so that every MP’s opinion can be considered.
Report Stage
During the Report Stage the rest of the House are notified of the Committee findings. If any alterations were made during the Committee Stage then the Bill must be reprinted before the Report Stage so that MPs can see how the changes impact on the Bill as a whole.
The Report Stage is not necessary if the Bill has been considered by a Committee of the Whole House.
Third Reading
This is the time when the House looks at the Bill (and any alterations that have been made to it) and decides whether should be allowed to proceed. The Bill cannot be altered at this stage, it must be either accepted or rejected.
Once a Bill has passed the Third Reading, one of the Clerks of the Table takes it to the House of Lords for their consideration.
References:
McLean, I. and McMillan, A. (2003) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (2nd Rev Ed.) (Oxford University Press)
Jones, B. et al (2006) Politics UK (6th Ed.) (Longman)
Kingdom, J. (2003) Government and Politics in Britain: An Introduction (3rd Ed.) (Polity Press)
