Legislation

Q. Give an account of law making process in uk parliament ,distinguishing between primary and
secondary legislation and evaluate the relative functions and powers of the two houses.

The question at hand pertains to the legislative process with prime focus on its various stages. Legislative
process is process by which a statute is introduced into the parliament ,in general statutes are the
primary most essential source of the UK constitution that govern a city state or country also we.ll explain
the difference between primary and secondary legislation. In order to explain the legislative process
effectively we will start by explaining the pre legislative scrutiny in which proposals to the law are made
this process is followed by the establishment of green paper then white paper and after its approval from
select committee or joint committee it is then formally known as the draft bill. Government departments
can introduce these bills and also by individual members of House of Commons and house of lords in that
case these are known as private member bills. Moreover, once the bill has undergone the pre legislative
scrutiny, then it goes through a proper parliamentary passage which involves multiples stages such as
first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and finally third reading. Eventually when
the bill has undergone the relevant parliamentary process and is passed by both the houses of
parliament, at the end it receives royal assent and can be regarded as law.

Following the legislative process initially the bill undergoes through a process of pre legislative scrutiny
The first step in the pre legislative scrutiny is the establishment of green paper these are consultation
papers they contain the government firm proposals for change to the law and invite comments, This is
followed by a white paper which contains more in depth proposals, and forms the basis for the bill. For
example white paper put forward for Human Rights Act 1998 was rights brought home in
1997.furthermore a bill may indeed have slot in parliamentary programme but cannot be introduced in
the houses of parliament until approved by a PBl committee ,once the committee is satisfied with the bill
as well as considering some other documents, it is then formally introduced in the parliament and at this
stage the bill is tobe known as the draft bill. Then a committee decides whether the bill should be
introduced in house lords first or in commons. Additionally certain bills of taxation for example finance
bill and bill of constitutional importance start at the house of commons.

After these consultation stages the bill Undergoes through parliamentary passage in both houses of
parliament, concerning first reading, second reading, committee stage ,report stage and third reading..
These stages are similar in both the houses except for one difference at the committee stage.

First reading, here the short title of the bill is formally read out, debate and discussion over the bill
begins in the second reading, the minister related to the topic of the bill opens the debate by setting out
the case for the bill and explaining its provisions. The opposition will respond to it and other parties are
free to discuss it moreover no amendments or changes can be made to the bill at this stage but ideas for
changes can be given by members which they will be proposing at later stages. At the end of the debate,
the house as a whole will vote on the bill if the vote is lost by the government it is not proceeded further
but rarely bill at this stage is defeated.

Following the 2nd reading, committee stage proceeds this is where practice in lords and commons differ,
in commons this process is carried out by special committee of MPs which is presently known as the