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Campaigning in Parliament
The difference between Parliament and Government
What Parliament is supposed to do MPs and Members of the House of Lords What MPs and Lords can do in Parliament How Parliament makes laws, and the different
kinds of laws
We are part of the Houses of Parliament
We don’t work for any political party
We want to let people know more about Parliament and make it easier for them to get their voice heard
We aren’t MPs but can help you make contact with the right people in Parliament
The party or parties who have more MPs than the other parties put together form the Government
The Government: runs “departments” such as the Home Office, Department of Health etc. suggests new laws to Parliament has to answer questions from Parliament
• Commons, Lords, Monarch (Queen)
• Keeps an eye on Government
• Passes laws• Lets Government raise
tax• Gives the public a say
• Some MPs and some Lords
• Chosen by the Prime Minister
• Runs Government departments
• Must explain what it does to Parliament
Government(Whitehall)
Conservative - 303
Labour - 256
Lib Dem - 56
DUP - 8
SNP - 6
Sinn Fein - 5
Plaid Cymru - 3
SDLP - 3
Green - 1
Respect - 1
Alliance - 1
Independent - 5
Speaker - 1
House of Commons
House of Lords
The Monarch (Queen)
Makes and passes laws(Legislation)
Holds Government to account
Enables the Government to set taxes
Elected (voted in)
There are currently 650 MPs
All MPs are elected every 5 years
Speaks about the area they represent (constituency)
Talks about things that people in their area (constituents) care about
Looks at new laws Keeps an eye on
Government
Helps people with problems Visits groups and individuals
to hear what they have to say Can speak on behalf of
people Gets involved in campaigns
In the area they represent (constituency)
In Westminster
Your MP’s e-mail address and phone number will be on the Parliament website: www.parliament.uk
You can call the House of Commons Information Office on 020 7219 4272 for their details
You can find their details at your town hall or local library Many MPs will have an address and number in the
constituency Some MPs use Twitter – you can follow them
Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham
The House of Lords spends a lot of time looking at laws
The Government do not have a majority in the House of Lords so they can’t always get their own way
There are 181 Cross-Benchers in the Lords, who don’t belong to a party
There are 780 active members, including 26 Bishops
Members of the House of Lords do not represent a particular bit of the country, like MPs do
You can find Members of the Lords who will support your campaign
You can read about all Members of the Lords at www.parliament.uk
Hansard – the official record of what is said in Parliament– is a good place to look for Lords who are interested in particular issues
The 10 Downing Street website has a full list of all Government Departments
There are links to each Department’s website, which give details of Ministers and what their jobs are
www.number10.gov.uk
• All Government Ministers can be questioned on their work
• In writing and in person• In the Commons and Lords• Questions have to be about the
work of their department• Cannot be on party or private
issues, or things going on in court• Must be used to ask for
information or for the Government to do something
Adjournment debates (HoC) Questions for Short Debate
(HoL) Back-Bench business
debates (HoC) Opposition day debates
Allows MPs and Members of the House of Lords to:
Speak about things their constituents care about
Get a Minister to explain what the Government are going to do about it
Made up of MPs of all parties
They look at the work of the Government in detail
They report on different things the Government does
Their reports are based on what the public tell them
The Government has to write a full answer to their reports
You can contact the staff of Select Committees You can ask them about Committee inquiries (things they are
looking into) You can suggest things that the Committee might look at If an inquiry is taking place, you can contact Committee staff for
advice on giving written evidence If you are called to give evidence in person, Committee staff can
help you to prepare Select Committees can do follow-up inquiries after the Government
have answered their reports
The Government brings out some Bills as a first draft
They are checked and people are invited to make suggestions. This is called “pre-legislative scrutiny”
The draft Bill will be checked by a Committee in Parliament
Green Papers: ideas that the Government might put into a future law
White Papers: more detail, and far closer to what will be in the Bill
They are not laws The Government might have a
consultation, where they ask for the views of the public
The Government might bring out a draft Bill
MPs and Lords can introduce their own Bills In the Commons, MPs can bring in a Bill through the “10-
minute rule” MPs can also enter the Private Members Bill ballot every
session If they are in the first 20 or so names, their Bill we be
given debating time on a sitting Friday Members of both Houses can also present new Bills, but
they probably will not get time to debate them
If the Government want to make a new law, both Houses of Parliament have to agree
The Government’s suggestions for new laws are called Bills
To become law they have to go through the same stages in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The stages are called “First Reading”, “Second Reading”, “Committee”, “Report”, “Third Reading”
Members can suggest changes called “amendments”
Bill is introduced
A general debate on what the Bill is about
Usually there is a Bill Committee - Members can suggest changes
Always in the Commons Chamber – MPs can suggest changes
General debate summing up arguments so far
Bill is introduced
A general debate on what the Bill is about
Any Member can suggest changes – no separate Committee, no timetable
Any Member can suggest changes that haven’t been talked about already
Final chance to debate and change the Bill. Changes can still be made.
‘Ping-pong’ . Both Houses have to agree on Bill before it can become an Act of Parliament
The Queen has to agree to the Bill before it becomes an Act (no King or Queen has done this since 1707)
Members of all parties Both MPs and Members of the House of Lords Based around areas of interest (e.g. Housing and
care for older people, motor neurone disease, football) or countries of the world
Not official and don’t have powers, but good way of making contact with MPs
www.parliament.uk
020 7219 4272 – Commons information
020 7219 3107 – Lords information