The White paper means the proposals for the new law are much firmer now. Discussion of the white paper leads to the drafting of the bill.
After the drafting has been done you have you first reading in the House of Commons, this provides information about the name of the Bill and its main intentions. A clerk reads out the name of the MP who introduced it and is asked to name the date for the second reading, there are not votes or debates at this stage.
The second reading is the first opportunity for debate on the bills proposals and is held in the House of Commons. MP’s will discuss strengths and weaknesses of the proposals, they will then vote. If there is enough to support the bill it goes to the next stage.
The next stage is the Committee stage where a committee of the House of Commons carries out a more detailed examination of the bill. The committee members propose amendments, which are debated and voted upon. If the amendment is accepted the Bill will be amended, if it is rejected the Bill will not be changed. The House of Commons may use two types of committee, they may use a standing committee, which is made up of 20-30 MP’s to proportionally represent the strength of each party in the House of Commons, or they may use a committee of the whole house. All MP’s are present and the speaker chairs the debate, this is only used for Bills to change the constitution, or Bills of public importance.
The next stage is the Report stage, MP’s have the opportunity to debate changes the committee may have made, and because there is limited time available for this stage only the amendments selected by the speaker will be debated.
The last stage to happen in the House of Commons is the Third reading; this usually follows straight on from the report stage. MP’s vote whether to accept the bill or not. As it has gone through so many stage already, it is unlikely to get rejected at this stage.
When the House of Commons have approved he Bill it must also go to the House of Lords. The bill has to go through the same five stages it went through in the House of Commons.
If the House of Lords make any changes the revised Bill will have to go back to the House of Commons so that MP’s can debate the changes.
For any public bill that must pass both Houses to become law, the Bill must emerge from both Houses in identical form. This even includes punctuation.
If one house rejects the amendments made by the other, it must go back to that house. The Bill may go to and fro in this way three or four times before an agreement is reached although the Lords usually bow to the wishes of the Commons.
If an agreement is not reached a conference may be held to reach a compromise, the Bill is defeated and dies or the Parliament Acts are resorted to by the Commons.
The very last stage is the Royal assent; this is where the monarch gives formal approval of the Bill so that it becomes an Act of Parliament. The Lord Chancellor makes the announcement of Royal assent in the House of Lords.
B. Evaluate the formal process of statute creation
One of the main advantages of creating new legislation is that the document is drafted by very experienced people who are very knowledgeable about the process and what the new law is intended to do. This should mean that the new law is a good one. Creating new legislation is a complex process that takes up a great deal of time, it is highly likely that mistakes may be made in the wording which makes it difficult to interpret what was actually intended. If the legislation is misunderstood, the issues can be made clearer by passing another Act of Parliament to amend the original one.
Another advantage is that the process provides many opportunities for consultation and discussion, this should mean that the legislation which is passed has been amended where necessary also standing committees of 20-30 can carry out a more detailed scrutiny of the Bill making sure it is a good one.
Although there are a lot of stages for the new legislation to go through, this can take a long time to complete. The amount of time spent debating the proposals is limited to 1 day, and ½ day for amendments.
Several stages of consultation allow several opportunities for people and groups to have an input. This may lead to the final piece of legislation being weaker than intended, because objections raised mean that amendments are made.
Points of discussion do not have to be included by making amendments to the Bill, if they are not the Bill may be defeated before it becomes an Act of Parliament, this might lead to pressure to make changes.
The Government has a large majority so would expect its own MP’s to support its Bills, therefore any objections should not cause a problem in the passage of the Bill. The Government will only struggle to get its own Bills through Parliament if its own MP’s do not support it. The Government has a large majority and has a lot of power in Parliament, this means it can push Bills through and create new legislation even if no other MP’s from other political parties support it.
