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