6 Draft Bills and pre-legislative scrutiny

In this clip, we’ll be looking at voting and legislation in the Houses of Parliament. Now we’re here in one of the voting lobbies in the House of Commons. Now with the Lords and the Commons, it’s usually the speaker, or the Lord Speaker, who assesses the will of the House, and therefore which side has won. However, if the speaker’s decision is challenged by further shouts of ‘aye’ or ‘no’, then the speaker calls for a vote.

Now it doesn’t matter if that division happened in either the Lords or Commons. A division bell rings out across the entire parliamentary estate. And when the bell rings, members of the House of Commons have eight minutes to get into their chosen division lobby. In both the Lords and the Commons, the division lobbies run along the sides of the main chamber. In the Lords, these lobbies are divided into content and not content. And in the Commons, they’re divided up into aye and no.

Now in the Commons, when the MPs leave the voting lobby, they file past one of three desks, depending on where their name falls in the alphabet. And they give their name over to a clerk behind the desk who puts that down on a list. And that list becomes public record of how the MP has voted. It also goes on to be part of the official parliamentary report known as Hansard.

Now just beyond those desks are two doors, which are left just slightly ajar so as only to allow one person through at a time. And as the MPs file through one by one, they’re counted by two other MPS known as tellers who stand just beyond those doors. And at the end of the voting process, it’s those tellers that go back into the chamber, and when requested by the speaker, read out the final numbers. For example, ayes 279, nos 162.

We’re in the content lobby of the House of Lords. Now votes can be required for many different matters under discussion, including draft legislation. But the process of lawmaking requires the agreement of both houses. Now the process by which a piece of draft legislation, or a bill, becomes law is roughly the same in both houses. However, if the division happens here in the House of Lords, then these panels can fold down and form desks, and then members of each lobby are filed in alphabetically, and they give their name over to a clerk who ticks it off on a list.

Now as in the Commons, it’s the tellers who count the numbers, and then return to the chamber, where the final result of the division is announced. Now a bill can be introduced into either house, where it’s given a formal introduction or a first reading. Then a general debate over its contents, which is at the second reading debate. It then enters the committee stage, which is a more in-depth, clause-by-clause examination, and that in the Commons is usually carried out by a separate committee.

And the bill as amended is then reported back to the House for further debate over amendments and clauses. Then it’s given a final third reading before being turned over to the Second House, and that process begins all over again. Now if the Second House make any further amendments to that bill, then they eventually have to go back to the First House to be approved by them. And if the First House make any further amendments on top of that, then that has to be approved in the Second House, and so on and so forth, back and forwards between the two in a process called ping-pong. But when both houses agree on the wording of a bill, then it’s given royal assent by the Queen. Now that’s a formality, which means that the bill becomes an act of Parliament, or law.

The other films in this series will show you the debating chambers used by the Lords and Commons, parts of the old palace, as well as introducing you to the work that Parliament does. We hope you enjoy your tour.