How Laws Are Made

The legislative process in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom does not have a single written constitution. Instead, its legal system rests on a collection of statutes, conventions, and judicial decisions that have developed over centuries. At the centre of this system sits Parliament: the institution with the ultimate authority to make, amend, and repeal the law. Understanding how Parliament exercises that authority is essential to understanding UK legislation.

Parliamentary Sovereignty

The doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty is the foundational principle of the UK constitution. As established by constitutional convention and affirmed by the courts, Parliament has the right to make or unmake any law, and no body has the right to override or set aside an Act of Parliament. This principle was famously articulated by A.V. Dicey in the nineteenth century and remains the bedrock of the legislative system.

In practice, Parliamentary sovereignty means that an Act of Parliament is the highest form of law in the United Kingdom. Courts must apply Acts of Parliament even if they consider them unjust. The one qualification is that Parliament cannot bind its successors: any Act can be repealed or amended by a subsequent Act.

Since the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998, courts have the power under s.4 to make a declaration of incompatibility where primary legislation is found to be incompatible with Convention rights. However, such a declaration does not affect the validity of the legislation: it remains for Parliament to decide whether to amend the law.

The Role of Parliament

Parliament consists of three elements: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch. For a Bill to become an Act of Parliament, it must ordinarily be approved by both Houses and receive Royal Assent.

The House of Commons is the elected chamber, consisting of 650 Members of Parliament. It is the dominant legislative chamber: the government of the day must command a majority in the Commons, and most Bills are introduced there. The Commons has exclusive authority over financial matters (the power of the purse), a principle reinforced by the Parliament Act 1911.

The House of Lords is the unelected second chamber. Its members include life peers (appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958), hereditary peers (a reduced number retained under the House of Lords Act 1999), and the Lords Spiritual (senior bishops of the Church of England). The Lords acts as a revising chamber: it scrutinises Bills, proposes amendments, and can delay legislation, but it cannot indefinitely block a Bill that the Commons is determined to pass.

Stages of a Bill

A Bill is a draft Act of Parliament. Most Bills are introduced by the government (known as government Bills), though individual Members may also introduce Private Members' Bills. A public Bill must pass through the following stages in each House before it can become law:

First Reading

A formal introduction. The Bill's title is read out and a date is set for Second Reading. There is no debate or vote at this stage. The Bill is ordered to be printed and made available to Members and the public.

Second Reading

The first substantive debate on the Bill. Members debate the general principles and policy objectives. The responsible minister (or sponsoring Member) explains the purpose of the Bill, and the opposition responds. At the end of the debate, the House votes on whether the Bill should proceed. If the Bill is defeated at Second Reading, it is lost.

Committee Stage

Detailed, clause-by-clause examination of the Bill. In the Commons, this is usually done by a Public Bill Committee (a small group of Members selected to reflect the composition of the House). In the Lords, it typically takes place in a Committee of the Whole House (all Members may participate). Amendments may be proposed, debated, and voted upon. This is the stage where the detail of the law is shaped.

Report Stage

The Bill as amended in committee is reported back to the full House. Any Member may propose further amendments, and the House debates and votes on them. Report Stage gives the whole House the opportunity to consider and alter the Bill after committee scrutiny.

Third Reading

The final debate on the Bill in that House. In the Commons, no further amendments may be made at Third Reading (this convention was formalised by Standing Orders). In the Lords, amendments may still be proposed. The House votes on whether to pass the Bill. If it passes, the Bill moves to the other House, where the entire process is repeated.

Consideration of Amendments

If the second House amends the Bill, it is returned to the originating House for consideration of those amendments. The two Houses may exchange the Bill several times (a process known as "ping-pong") until both Houses agree on the same text. If agreement cannot be reached, the Bill may be lost, unless the Parliament Acts are invoked.

Royal Assent

The final step. Once both Houses have agreed on the text, the Bill is presented for Royal Assent. The Monarch's assent is granted on ministerial advice under the Royal Assent Act 1967. It is a constitutional convention that the Monarch does not refuse assent to a Bill that has been duly passed by Parliament. The last refusal was in 1708 (the Scottish Militia Bill, refused by Queen Anne). Upon receiving Royal Assent, the Bill becomes an Act of Parliament and takes its place on the statute book.

The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949

The Parliament Act 1911 and the Parliament Act 1949 together provide a mechanism for the House of Commons to pass legislation without the consent of the House of Lords in certain circumstances.

Under the 1911 Act, the Lords lost all power to block money Bills (Bills dealing exclusively with taxation or public expenditure). The Speaker of the House of Commons certifies whether a Bill is a money Bill. If it is, the Lords may delay it by up to one month, but it will receive Royal Assent with or without the Lords' consent.

For other public Bills, the 1911 Act originally allowed the Commons to override the Lords after the Bill had been passed by the Commons in three successive sessions over a period of at least two years. The 1949 Act reduced this to two successive sessions over a period of at least one year. The Parliament Acts have been used sparingly: notable examples include the Parliament Act 1949 itself, the War Crimes Act 1991, the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, and the Hunting Act 2004.

The Salisbury Convention

The Salisbury Convention (also known as the Salisbury-Addison Convention) is a constitutional convention under which the House of Lords does not vote against the second reading of any government legislation which was promised in the governing party's election manifesto. The convention originated in 1945, when the Labour government under Clement Attlee had a large Commons majority but faced a Conservative-dominated House of Lords. The Conservative Leader of the Lords, Viscount Cranborne (later Marquess of Salisbury), agreed that the Lords would not reject at Second Reading any Bill that gave effect to a manifesto commitment.

The convention remains an important constraint on the Lords' power, though its application to coalition or minority governments is debated. It has never been codified in statute.

Statements of Compatibility: Human Rights Act 1998, s.19

Section 19 of the Human Rights Act 1998 requires that, before a government Bill's Second Reading, the minister responsible must either make a statement that the provisions of the Bill are compatible with Convention rights (a "statement of compatibility"), or make a statement that the government wishes to proceed with the Bill despite being unable to make such a statement.

In practice, the overwhelming majority of Bills carry a statement of compatibility. A statement that the government cannot confirm compatibility is extremely rare and carries significant political weight, as it signals that the government is knowingly proceeding with legislation that may breach human rights obligations.

Delegated Legislation

Not all law is made through Acts of Parliament. A great deal of detailed regulation is made under powers delegated by Parliament to government ministers, known as delegated or secondary legislation. The most common form of delegated legislation is the statutory instrument (SI).

A statutory instrument is made under a power conferred by an Act of Parliament (the "parent Act" or "enabling Act"). The parent Act sets out the scope and limits of the power, and the minister exercises the power to make the detailed rules. The Statutory Instruments Act 1946 governs the numbering, printing, and publication of statutory instruments.

Statutory instruments are subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, but the level of scrutiny depends on the parent Act. There are two main procedures:

Affirmative procedure: the SI must be approved by a resolution of both Houses before it can come into force (or, in some cases, within a specified period after being made). This procedure is used for more significant or controversial delegated powers.
Negative procedure: the SI is laid before Parliament and will come into force unless either House passes a motion to annul it within a specified period (usually 40 sitting days). In practice, negative SIs are rarely debated or annulled, though the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments reviews all SIs for technical defects.

The volume of delegated legislation far exceeds primary legislation. In a typical year, Parliament passes 20 to 30 Acts, but over 1,000 statutory instruments are made. This raises questions about Parliamentary scrutiny and executive power: critics argue that too much significant law is made by ministers with insufficient oversight.

Primary and Secondary Legislation: The Distinction

Primary legislation consists of Acts of Parliament. It is the highest form of domestic law and can only be repealed or amended by another Act (or, exceptionally, under the Parliament Acts). An Act has been approved through the full legislative process described above and has received Royal Assent.

Secondary legislation (also called subordinate or delegated legislation) is law made under authority delegated by an Act of Parliament. It includes statutory instruments, Orders in Council, bye-laws, and rules of court. Secondary legislation is subordinate to the parent Act: if a statutory instrument exceeds the powers conferred by the parent Act (is ultra vires), it can be struck down by the courts.

This hierarchy is fundamental. An Act of Parliament cannot be challenged in court on grounds of invalidity (Parliamentary sovereignty), but a statutory instrument can be challenged on the ground that it exceeds the powers granted by the enabling Act.

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