The Second Reading is the time at which the House considers the principle of the bill, and debate is often wide-ranging. It is rare for a Government bill to be denied a Second Reading in the House of Commons: the rejection of the Reduction of Redundancy Rebates Bill on 7 February 1977 was the first such occurrence for many years.
The Opposition may decide to table a “reasoned amendment” at Second Reading. This is not an amendment to the bill itself, but is technically an amendment to the question that is before the House at Second Reading. The opposition can probe and question and set out reasons for which it opposes the bill. It should not be assumed that the Opposition always opposes bills. Many uncontroversial bills are unanimously accepted, e.g. Dangerous Dogs Bill.
Some non-controversial bills (e.g. the Royal Parks (Trading) Bill 1999–2000) are dealt with in a Second Reading Committee. A Second Reading Committee does not have the power to give a bill a Second Reading: it may only recommend that the bill be read a second time. Such bills are given a Second Reading in the House soon afterwards, without debate. Bills that give effect to recommendations from the Law Commissions are also referred to a Second Reading Committee
After Second Reading, the bill ‘stands committed’ and this follows the committee stage. This usually takes place in a Standing Committee but may be taken in Committee of the whole House or a special Standing Committee. The committee must consider each clause and Schedule of the bill, agreeing or disagreeing to a Motion that it “stand part” of the bill (i.e. leaving it in or deleting it). The committee may also consider amendments to the bill, but the Chairman may decide that amendments will not be considered if they do not meet certain criteria — they must be relevant to the subject matter of the bill, for example, and they may not involve additional expenditure, which is not covered by the Money Resolution.
A Standing Committee generally has about 18 members and its membership reflects the party composition of the House. For larger, more complicated or more contentious bills, the Standing Committee may have more members, up to a maximum of 50. At least one Minister from the Government Department in charge of the bill will be on the committee, as will a front-bench spokesman from each of the opposition parties represented. Despite their name, a new Standing Committee is appointed for each bill and the membership of each committee is discharged when it has reported its bill to the House. There may be several standing committees appointed at any one time, and letters designates them
A Standing Committee may dispose of a short bill in a single sitting, but a long or controversial bill might take many weeks.
The Stationery Office in single parts publishes debates in Standing Committee for each sitting, and a consolidated volume for each bill after consideration is complete. Very occasionally, a bill may be committed to a Special Standing Committee, which spends a limited time investigating the issues involved before going through the bill in the usual way as a normal Standing Committee. The Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Bill 1983–84 is one example of a bill to which this procedure has been applied.
The Modernization Committee has recommended that more use of these committees should be considered.
The whole House may consider certain bills at Committee stage. In general, these are bills of constitutional importance - such as the House of Lords Bill 1998/99 - those requiring a very rapid passage, and certain financial measures, including at least part of each year’s Finance Bill.
If a Committee amends a bill, it is reprinted and allocated a new bill number.
The next stage is known as the Consideration, or Report stage. At this stage, the House may make further amendments to the bill but does not consider those clauses and Schedules to which no amendments have been tabled.
The Consideration stage provides an opportunity for Members who were not on the Standing Committee to move amendments to the bill, and the delay between Committee and Consideration allows time for the Government to give further thought to some of the points raised during the committee stage, sometimes bringing forward their own amendments in lieu of amendments which were rejected or withdrawn in the Committee. The House may reverse or amend changes made by the Standing Committee. If a bill has been dealt with by a Committee of the whole House, and has not been amended, it progresses straight to Third Reading without a Consideration Stage.
The final Commons stage of the bill is the Third Reading, usually taken directly after the conclusion of Consideration. This enables the House to take an overview of the bill, as amended in Committee or on Consideration. No amendments may be made at this stage. Debates on Third Reading are usually very short.
Once it has passed its Third Reading in the Commons, the bill is sent to the Lords - usually, but not necessarily (especially if the bill has been substantially amended) on the next sitting day. The legislative process in the House of Lords is broadly similar to that in the House of Commons.
Important differences are:
(a) After Second Reading, bills are usually committed to a Committee of the whole House.
(b) There is no guillotine and debate on amendments is unrestricted.
(c) Amendments can be made at Third Reading as well as at Committee and Consideration stage.
The Lords and Commons must finally agree a text of each bill. If the Lords have not amended a Commons bill they inform the Commons of the fact. If the Lords amend a Commons bill, their amendments are printed and considered by the Commons. The Commons may agree to the Lords amendments, or agree to them with amendments, or disagree to them.
If the Commons agree to the Lords amendments but with amendments of their own, they ask the Lords to agree to those amendments. If they disagree to the Lords amendments, they send a Message giving the reasons for their disagreement and the Lords consider the matter further.
A bill may travel backwards and forwards between the two Houses in this way several times. A deadlock is reached once each House has insisted on its position without proposing some alternative. If this does happen, as it did in the case of the European Parliamentary Elections Bill in 1998, then the bill may be passed in the following Session of Parliament without the consent of the House of Lords under s.2 of the Parliament Act 1911, as amended by the Parliament Act 1949.
In order for this to happen, three criteria must be met:
(a) In each case, the bill must have been taken to the Lords at least one month before the end of the Session;
(b) One year must have elapsed between the Second Reading of the bill in the Commons in the first Session and the bill being passed by the House in the second Session; and
(c) The bill in the second session must be identical to the bill in the first session, containing only amendments that are necessary to take account of the passage of time.
This means that the House of Lords may delay a piece of legislation which emanates from the Commons, but may not block it indefinitely or insist on amendments.
When a text has been agreed between the Houses, the bill is submitted for the Royal Assent.
The Crown, as the third element in Parliament’s composition, must give Assent to a bill for it to pass into law. Such Assent has not been withheld since 1707, but every bill is still required to go through the procedure appointed.
After signification of Royal Assent, the bill becomes an Act, and is printed and sold both individually and in the annual series of Public and General Acts.
Under normal circumstances, a Public bill must complete all its stages in one Session of Parliament. If it fails to do so, it may be re-presented in the following Session, but it must begin again at the beginning of the legislative cycle.
The difference lies in the passage of a Private Member’s Bill.
First method is introduction by Ballot, where backbench MPs can bring forward a piece of legislation by entering the annual ballot for Private Members' Bills. Twenty names will be drawn forward, which upon their success have 9 days to present the subject matter for their Bill, which is given precedence over other Parliamentary business.
The second mechanism by which MPs can introduce legislation is known as the Ten Minute Rule, because on certain days an MP can apply for ten minutes to outline why a particular Bill should be given a second reading. After this speech, only one other MP is permitted to oppose the measure, also for ten minutes. A vote is then taken, and if the Bill is not defeated it moves on to the other stages of the legislative process in the normal manner.
Any MP can simply introduce a Bill at any time by giving notice that they intend to do so. Only the most uncontroversial measure can have any chance of success through what is known as the Presentation Bill route, because they cannot receive a second reading if even a single MP objects. One of the best known examples of a Presentation Bill reaching the statute book is perhaps the Protection of Birds (Amendment) Bill, which received all its Commons stages in a mere 67 seconds in 1976.
Peers are also able to introduce Bills in the House of Lords at any stage in the parliamentary year, although few avail themselves of this opportunity. However, if a Private Member's Bill in the Lords did manage to get through the legislative process there, the peer sponsoring it would seek to persuade an MP to introduce it in the Commons. If it was similarly successful in the Commons, the Bill would become law.
