3.2 The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949

The House of Commons may use existing legislation – such as the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 – which will allow them to make law without the consent of the House of Lords. This rarely happens, but the House of Commons has this power available if the House of Lords cannot reach an agreement, or rejects a piece of proposed legislation which the House of Commons wishes to bring into force. The Parliament Acts were used when the government of the day pushed through the War Crimes Act 1991, the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, and the Hunting Act 2004. The last of these Acts outlawed the hunting of wild animals using dogs to locate and kill the animal (usually a fox). This was a controversial piece of legislation and the House of Lords was not able to sanction the proposed Bill.

Activity 2 Fitting the Bill

Watch the following film, which discusses the work of the House of Lords when dealing with a public Bill. A public Bill is a piece of legislation which has been proposed by the government of the day.

While watching, make some notes on the different stages (order of events) which the Bill passes through. You will discover that there are a set number of stages the Bill must go through before it is then passed back to the House of Commons.

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Transcript: Activity 2 Fitting the Bill

SIMON BLACKBURN:

So, most bills start in the House of Commons, and when they’ve finished with it, and it’s been through all its stages there, literally a hard copy is still walked up to the House of Lords, wrapped up in ribbon. It gets brought into the chamber, and a government minister will stand up and read the long title. And this is known as the first reading. And the long title is a paragraph on the bill which just sums up what that bill is doing. And then that hard copy of the bill gets taken out of the chamber and up to our office, where we keep it safe.

So, second reading is a debate, and members take it in turns to stand up and talk about the subject. And it’s quite useful, because they can also take the opportunity to tell the government, ‘well, this is what I think of your bill, these are the bits I’m going to try and change later on’.

Once we’ve received the bill, and once it’s had its second reading, then a bill is open for amendments. And members come into the legislation office and discuss with us the changes that they’d like to make to the bill. And then we put everything in the right order and print it up all ready for everybody to look at, when it’s in the chamber. If at second reading lots of people disagree with the subject, then at the end, they can have a vote and they can decide to throw out the whole bill there and then. But that doesn’t tend to happen very often.

HOUSE OF LORDS MEMBER:

My Lords, I beg to move that the house do now resolve itself into a committee upon the bill.

SIMON BLACKBURN:

Committee stage – everybody turns up and they go through the bill line by line. And, most of the amendments are a chance to try and work out what the government’s thinking, what its policy is in an area. So, people suggest changes just to see what the government says about them and whether they’ll accept them or not.

HOUSE OF LORDS MEMBER 2:

Questions. One is, what is the urgency to consider the report stage?

SIMON BLACKBURN:

So, the next stage is called report stage. And this time, they go through the bill line by line again. But the amendments are right down to the nitty gritty. These are changes that people really want to make. And, so quite often, we get more votes at report stage, because people really want to push the government and find out how many people agree with them.

LORDS’ SPEAKER:

Not contents, 218. Therefore, the not contents have it.

SIMON BLACKBURN:

The very last stage is called third reading. And this is pretty much just a tidying up. So, if there’s been a big change earlier on which has lots of consequential little changes. So after third reading, all the changes that have been made will be stuck in, or crossed out, as the case may be. And then it’s wrapped up in red ribbon with a message saying, ‘Dear House of Commons, here’s a bill that the House of Lords have passed, please will you consider it?’

HOUSE OF COMMONS:

Message from the Lords.

SIMON BLACKBURN:

So, ping pong is the point where the bill is going backwards and forwards between the two houses. And all they’re looking at are the areas where they can’t agree. So, everything else that’s agreed is put to one side. And on the areas where they can’t agree, they try and find a compromise. So, the House of Lords might say, ‘we don’t like this, what you think of this instead?’ And the Commons will either to say ‘yes’. Or they might say, ‘no, we don’t agree with that policy, but how about this compromise?’ And they’ll whittle it down until everybody’s agreed on a way forward.

So, when both houses have finished the bill, then the last stage is that the Queen is asked to signify that she’s happy with it. And when that happens, in both houses the Speaker and the Lords’ Speaker stand up and announce that the bill has been given its Royal Assent.

LORDS’ SPEAKER:

My Lords, I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act of 1967, that the Queen has signified her royal assent to the following acts.

SIMON BLACKBURN:

Then the bill goes off, and the final copy is printed. And it’s that copy that is taken up to the parliamentary archives and is the official record.

End transcript: Activity 2 Fitting the Bill

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Activity 2 Fitting the Bill

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Now drag and drop the explanations given below to the right stage.

First reading

The long title is read.

Second reading

The subject is debated.

Committee stage

Each line of the Bill is looked at and amends made.

Report stage

Each line of the Bill is looked at again and further amends made.

Third reading

The Bill is tidied up.

Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.

1. First reading

2. Second reading

3. Committee stage

4. Report stage

5. Third reading

• a.The long title is read.

• b.The Bill is tidied up.

• c.Each line of the Bill is looked at again and further amends made.

• d.The subject is debated.

• e.Each line of the Bill is looked at and amends made.

The correct answers are:

• 1 = a
• 2 = d
• 3 = e
• 4 = c
• 5 = b

Comment

This is the process that takes place in both Houses (the House of Commons and the House of Lords) before the Royal Assent is given. You will learn more about these stages later on in this course.