Submitted on Saturday 5th November 2016
Rejected on Tuesday 8th November 2016
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: duplicate (see below for details)
End "filibustering": time limits for MP speeches debating Private Member's Bills
In October 2016, the "Turing Bill" was blocked as Sam Gyimah MP "talked out" the bill, preventing it reaching a vote. In November 2016 Philip Davies MP spoke for an hour to block a bill to end unpaid internships.
The practice is wholly undemocratic and makes a mockery of the parliamentary system.
Standing Order No. 42 allows the Speaker to direct a Member to discontinue his speech if that Member 'persists in irrelevance, or tedious repetition either of his own arguments or of the arguments used by other members in debate'. However, this rule is rarely enforced by the Speaker, and the above examples suggest it is insufficient to prevent members of the house single-handedly obstructing bills.
Appropriate time limits on MPs speeches would be a hard stop to the practice of "filibustering".
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The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
There's already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
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petition.parliament.uk/petitions/170132
3.133.112.82 Fri, 17 May 2024 23:20:21 +0100
