Submitted on Saturday 16th June 2018
Rejected on Wednesday 20th June 2018
Current status: Rejected
Rejection code: no-action (see below for details)
Update the rules on blocking Private Members Bills
Currently, a private members bill can be blocked by any one MP calling to object to it, or by filibustering. These practices are not democratic and Parliament should consider updating the rules on these types of bill to ensure only a majority vote can decide the outcome.
This is most recently and controversially shown by the actions of Sir Christopher Chope MP; who blocked a private members bill on making the practice of supporting an offence by objecting; this is despite the bill otherwise having clear support from virtually all honourable members present.
Sir Christopher is also understood to have blocked several other private members bills through objections and through filibustering.
You can't sign this petition because it was rejected. But you can still comment on it here at Repetition.me!
The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:
Petitions need to call on the Government or Parliament to take a specific action.
We're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do. In particular, we're not sure how you'd like the rules to be updated.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you would like the Government or Parliament to do.
If you want to change the rules so that objections to Private Members' Bills need to be seconded, you may wish to sign this petition instead: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/222338
You may be interested to know that a group of MPs called the House of Commons Procedure Committee looked at the rules for Private Members Bills in 2016. You can read its report and recommendations here:
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmproced/684/68402.htm
You can watch MPs debate the Committee’s report on Parliament TV:
http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/9ff57b89-d23c-44a7-85a3-5a9872c0ed31?in=16:02:20
You can read the debate on the Committee’s report here:
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-04-18/debates/16041810000002/PrivateMembers%E2%80%99Bills
You can find out more about the different stages of a bill on the Parliament website:
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/
3.144.251.106 Wed, 29 Jan 2025 20:11:41 +0000
