Analyse the process that Government policies go through in order to become legislation.

Joseph Whitelegg Unit 1 – Task 4 43006701

The formal procedure for passing an Act starts with the presentation of a bill in one of the Houses of Parliament; more often than not in the House of Commons. The bill’s policy objectives will have been determined by the political imperatives of the government or of the ‘private member’ presenting the bill. Those policies are transformed into legislative form after going through numerous processes.

The parliamentary process starts with a ‘first reading’, a formal stage when the House orders the bill to be printed and the main objective of the bill is ascertained.

The first opportunity for debate arises at the ‘second reading’. Here the minister responsible sets out the main policy objectives in detail and the opposition parties voice their objections. At the end of the debate there is a summing up by a government minister. It is very rare for a government bill to be rejected at this stage.

The bill then moves to the ‘committee stage’. Detailed scrutiny of the text is carried out by a group of members of Parliament (MPs), which may be between twenty and fifty members, known as a standing committee. They consider the clauses of the bill, as drafted, consider amendments proposed to those clauses, and determine whether or not such amendments should or should not be accepted. This is a highly political stage in the legislative process. Not only do the opposition members put down such amendments that they have thought of, but members of the committee may also be subject ...

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Given that the government party always has a majority on the committee, and those MPs from the government side are instructed to vote as told by the ‘whip’, the government usually either gets its way, or makes only those concessions which it is prepared to accept. Despite this degree of control, bills are frequently amended and often emerge from the overall process significantly changed from the form in which they were first advanced. Very occasionally, where a bill is being rushed through Parliament, or involves significant constitutional change, the committee stage may take place only in the House of Commons.

Next comes the ‘report stage’. Here what has happened to the bill in committee is reported to the House of Commons. This provides the government with the chance to undo things that the committee may have done to the bill which the government does not like. It is often the point at which amendments which the government wishes to introduce into the bill, perhaps following debate in committee, are introduced.

Finally comes the ‘third reading’, a more formal stage in which the bill in its amended form is brought together but no more amendments are made. The bill then goes to the House of Lords where it begins a similar process.

Procedure in the House of Lords is broadly similar to that in the Commons however these potentially can be, and on occasion are, a source of delay. In theory the House of Lords is able to wreck or seriously delay legislation. But peers are aware that, given their status as a non-elected legislative body, the ultimate decision on legislation must lie with the House of Commons. While they do not in practise wholly destroy bills, there have been a number of occasions in recent years where they have secured significant amendments or even caused a bill to be withdrawn. For example their revision of The Criminal Justice Bill 1999, which sought to limit rights to jury trial, forced the government to introduce a new bill, revised in content but with the same title in the House of Commons.

Once the Lord’s stages are complete, there has to be a process for the Commons and the Lords to agree a single version of the text. Particularly at the end of the parliamentary year this can lead to dramatic debates between the two houses, especially where measures are very controversial. In the last resort, the House of Lords does have power under the Parliament Act 1911 to delay a Commons bill for up to one year. If there is an ultimate impasse then the view of the elected legislature, the House of Commons, prevails. The most recent occasion on which the Parliament Act was invoked was in relation to the passing of the Hunting Act 2004.

Finally comes the royal assent. This is only considered as a formality but, reflecting the fact that the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, remains a traditional step that must be completed.

The mere fact that an act has completed the legislative process does not mean it at once becomes effective. Commonly, new administrative arrangements have to be put in place before an Act can become operational. In such cases, the legislation will be effective only when a commencement order, a special statutory instrument, is made.

Bibliography

Elliot, C. and Quinn, F. (2009), ‘English Legal System’, 10th edn., Pearson Education Limited, Essex.

Gillespie, A. (2009), ‘The English Legal System’, 2nd Ed, O.U.P.

Martin, J. (2006), ‘English legal System: Key cases’, Hodder, U.K

Michael, A and Thompson, B. (2002), ‘Case and Materials on Constitutional and Administrative Law’, 7th edn., O.U.P, London.

Partington, M. (2008) ‘An introduction to the English legal system’, 4th Edn., New York, Oxford University Press.

Partington, M. (2008) ‘An introduction to the English legal system’, p. 47

Partington, M. (2008) ‘An introduction to the English legal system’, p. 49