After the second reading the Bill then comes to the committee stage. During the committee stage the Bill is passed to the standing committee, which is made up of between 16 and 50 MPs, who are selected per party. The MPs selected will generally have a particular interest in the Bill or specialist knowledge of its content. The standing committee then inspects the Bill section by section and makes amendments to ensure it conforms to the general approval given by the House of the second reading.
The next stage is the report stage. In this stage the standing committee report the amendments made to the Bill during the committee stage back to the whole house. Each amendment is then debated upon and a vote is taken on to decide whether it should be accepted or rejected. The house may then make further changes at this stage provided they are approved by a vote. Should no amendments be made at the committee stage there is no need for the report stage and the Bill could then progress straight through to the third reading.
The third reading is a review of the whole Bill and a vote is taken to decide whether the Bill should continue to the other House. This stage is often a formality as the Bill has successfully completed its earlier stages it is unlikely to fail.
After the third reading, the Bill is passed to the other House where it goes through to the same stages.
Royal Assent is needed once a Bill is passed through both Houses to become law. The granting of Royal Assent is formality. Assent is given by the speaker in the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. On the day Royal Assent is granted, the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament.
One of the advantages of parliamentary law making is scrutiny. The legislative process is very thorough as there are three reading and two stages which take place in both Houses of Parliament. This offers several chances for debate, scrutiny and amendments, ensuring that any mistakes or poor drafting can be corrected.
Also parliamentary law making is democratic. MPs in the House of Commons are democratically elected (voted by the public) to make laws for the U.K. During the debates on the proposed law each MP should have the opportunity to put forward the view of his/her voters. However members of the House of Lords are not democratically elected, so they cannot vote a Bill that has the approval of the Commons.
The Government has a lot of power; it controls the parliament timetable for debate and is likely to win at each stage unless the parties own MPs vote against it. This is democratic as the Government are made up of ministers who have been elected by the public.
Another advantage is the House of Lords as it acts as a checking guide to ensure that the House of Commons do not just pass laws that fit the House of Commons political approach.
All MPs and Lords have the opportunity to introduce new Bills. This helps for controversial bills e.g. marriage Act 1994 which allowed marriages to take place in places other than a church and Registry Offices.
A disadvantage of parliamentary law making is that it is undemocratic as neither the Queen nor the House of Lords are elected, thus, the unelected House of Lords should not have the power to delay Bills that have been approved by the democratically elected House of Commons.
Another disadvantage is Government control as the Government has a majority of MPs in the House of Commons; it can vote out any private members Bills that does not fit its political agenda. The Government is too powerful as it is able to by pass the House of Lords views via Parliament Act.
The process is slow as a Bill has to go through many readings and stages as is not appropriate when important laws need to be made quickly. Although the Royal Assent has become a formality this is somewhat a futile stage and makes the whole legislative process more time consuming.
When drafting a Bill, parliamentary draftsmen use words and phrases that are confusing, unclear and over elaborate. 75% of cases in the House of Lords involve issues over interpretation of Acts of Parliament. Language and structural issues also make the law inaccessible for ordinary people.
