How to Make a Law (UK)

You are a Citizen of Great Britain and you have a great idea that you think should become law. But where do you go and what do you do to see that it becomes law?

You  first need to create a petition - In order to get your proposal noticed by parliament you need to get like minded individuals to give their signature as a sign of approval.

As a citizen of Great Britain you will have constituency in which you reside. Each constituency has a Member of Parliament (or MP) to represent the individual voters within the area. Only MP's can present petitions to the House of Commons. Generally if there is evidence of enough support for the petition from constituents then the MP will raise this petition in the House of Commons. 

However, the MP is only obliged, not obligated to do so.

But if your petition has enough names on it your MP will be inclined to act - MPs are very keen to keep favour with their voters - job security is very important...

Your MP, with your petition will now raise the petition formally or informally in the House of Commons.

If you live in Scotland it this is where it can get confusing because of devolved government. The Scottish government deals with the following issues:  Health, Education, Justice, Agriculture, Housing, etc, which are all Devolved powers. 

Westminster deal with reserved matters (matters for the entirety of Great Britain): Benefits and social security, immigration, defence, foreign policy, employment, data protection, etc. They also deal with all their own matters - the same as the devolved powers of Scotland. For the sake of this post the law you want to make is falls into the Reserved powers of Westminster.

Back to your MP in the House of Commons: They can raise the petition informally, at any time while sitting in the House of Commons by signing the top of the petition and placing it in the large green bag hooked to the back of the Speaker's Chair. The Speaker is the chief of the House of Commons and the Highest Authority within. 

This green bag is almost like a black hole for petitions. It is a place where they go die. If your MP disagrees with what is on the petition, it will probably go in here.

To raise it formally is better. The MP must present the petition at the correct time - immediately before the half-hour adjournment debate (normally discussions about local issues) at the end of each day's business. When presenting the petition they must give a brief statement setting out who the petition is from, the number of signatures contained and the concerns of the petitioner before reading out the request. This request is called a "prayer".

Once accepted, the petition gets sent to the appropriate government body such as the department of transport. The government department finding merit in your idea will create a draft bill. This can often take the form of a white paper. It allows the government to gather feedback formally before making it a fully fledged Bill starting in the House of Commons.

There are three categories of Bills: Public, Private and Hybrid.

Public Bills are concerned with the general law. Private Bills are when a private individual or organisation is in excess of, or in conflict with the general law. 

A hybrid Bill affects the general public but also specific individuals or groups.

This Bill is a Public Bill effecting the general UK population.

Now begins the Bill's First Reading in the House of Commons. This can take place at any time in a parliamentary session. The title of the Bill is read out followed by an order for the Bill to be printed. The Bill is then printed on House of Commons paper.

The Bill then progresses to the Second Reading where the Government minister, spokesperson or MP responsible for the Bill opens the debate. The Opposition spokesperson gives their views on the Bill followed by the other Opposition parties and backbench MP's with their opinions.

MP's then decided on the whether the Bill should progress by voting. If there was no opposition then it can progress without a vote.

The Bill then moves to the Committee Stage. In the Committee Stage detailed examination of the Bill takes place by a Public Bill Committee. The Committee would be named after the main subject of the Bill. Evidence from experts surrounding the topic and nature of the Bill as well as interests groups will be gathered allowing for the educated discussion of each of the Bill's separate clauses. Any amendments to the Bill are proposed and agreed. This amended Bill is then sent back to the House of Commons for the Report Stage.

Back in the House of Commons, MPs will now have the opportunity to suggest more amendments and additions to the Bill. After potentially several days of discussion the Bill is then immediately followed by the Third Reading.

This is now the final opportunity for debate within the House of Commons. There is a short debate on only what is included in the Bill. Amendments cannot be made at this point. MP's then vote on whether to approve the third reading of the Bill. Once accepted, the Bill now makes its way to the House of Lords for the same sort of journey.

What, you thought that was it?

The House of Lords is similar in many ways to the House of Commons, except all the Lords wear silly wigs and have an obsession with the colour red.

In the House of Lords the formality of the First Reading takes place so that it can be printed.

Before the second reading takes place, members of the House of Lords must add their name to the Speakers List indicating their interest in the Bill. Within the Second reading general discussion normally happens for a number of hours, or sometimes a couple of days before moving onto the next Committee Stage. 

This normally takes place in the Lords chamber (dubbed on the floor) or in Grand Committee (dubbed off the floor). Just before this stage has begun the amendments to the bill are gathered, placed in order, and then published in the marshalled list. During this committee stage every clause of the bill must be agreed on and any amendments that are in the marshalled list can be voted on.Issues can be discussed for as long as members choose to discuss them - Unlike in the House of Commons the government cannot restrict this discussion by imposing a time limit. At conclusion, the bill is printed again and 14 days later the bill undergoes even more scrutiny in the Report Stage.

This is yet another chance for the Lords to examine and amend the bill. Once again a marshalled list is produced and discussions begin. The Lords can vote again on changes. The amended bill is printed again in preparation for the Third Reading.

This might be the last chance for the Lords to make any amendments. The marshalled list is produced. Changes can be made at this point but only if there wasn't a vote on the amendment in the House of Lords Committee and Report stage.

One of two things will now happen. If there were no amendments made by the Lords, then it moves immediately for Royal Assent. If there have been changes then it would go back to the House of Commons for consideration of Lords' Amendments.

This is where Ping Pong can sometimes begin. The Lords amendments must be accepted by the House of Commons. The House of Commons might disagree on some of the wording and so will make an amendment and return it to the House of Lords consideration. The Lords must then either agree or suggest further amendments. As you can imagine, this can take some time.

But if the House of Commons accept the changes, then the Bill progresses to Royal Assent.

Now that the bill has passed all stages of the House of Commons and the House of Lords it needs to now pass Royal Assent. Royal Assent is the Monarch's agreement to make the Bill an Act (or law).

The Queen can of course refuse to do so. Royal Assent is now more like a tradition. If the queen did block a Bill becoming an Act there would likely be both Public and Parliamentary outrage. The last monarch to block a Bill (to arm Scottish Militia) was Queen Anne in 1707 when she refused fearing that the Scots would be disloyal.

After Royal Assent the bill becomes an act and that act is law and must be obeyed by the area in which it refers too.

And that is how you make a new law.

Finally all road signs are at least 5 square meters and nobody has an excuse for missing the "no parking" signs...

If you read this far, congratulations! Have a hypothetical cookie for your hard work!

Until next time, it's SciPhiBye!