Proceedings | HM Most Honorable Parliament of the Kingdom of Reitzmag
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Basic Information
Role: Legislative
Type: Bicameral
Divisions:- House of Commons (Electoral)
- House of Lords (Peerage)
Rendezvous: F. Humperies Palace
Logo: Logo of the House of Representatives
Summary
The House of Representatives is publicly elected. The party with the largest number of Member Representatives forms the government.Constituent Representatives (MPs) debate the big political issues of the day and proposals for new laws. It is one of the key places where government ministers, like the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, and the principal figures of the main political parties, work.
The House of Representatives alone is responsible for making decisions on financial Bills, such as proposed new taxes. The Lords can consider these Bills but cannot block or amend them.
Current Status
Rendezvous: Chamber of Congress
Total Seats: 710
HM Government: Conservative (409-excluding speaker)
HM Most Loyal Opposition: Labour Party (143)
Other Opposition Parties:- National Union Party (78)
- Democracy First Party (32)
- Trade Union Party (21)
- Green Party (15)
- Liberal Democratic Party (11)
Presiding Officers: Commons Speaker (1-Conservative)
Logo: Logo of the House of Lords
Summary
The House of Lords is the second chamber of the Reitzmic Parliament. It is independent from, and complements the work of, the elected House of Commons. The Lords shares the task of making and shaping laws and checking and challenging the work of the government.Current Status
Rendezvous: House of Lords Chamber
Total Seats: 546
Lords Spiritual
Majority: Catholic Bishops Conference ()
Minority: Christians Union Party ()
Lords Temporal:
HM Government: Conservative ()
HM Most Loyal Opposition: Labour Party ()
Other Opposition Parties:- Liberal Democrats ()
- National Union Party ()
- Trade Union Party ()
- Green Party ()
Crossbench: National Neutral Party ()
Presiding Officers: Lord Spaker (1)
Dedication Note
This thread is made to keep records of parliamentary proceedings in both houses of HM Most Honorable Parliament of the Kingdom of Reitzmag. This will also act as a hansard for both houses of the parliament. All statements may be found here in dialogue form starting March 28 2020 UTC+2.
Legislative Process
Summary
A bill is a proposed law which is introduced into Parliament. Once a bill has been debated and then approved by each House of Parliament, and has received Royal Assent, it becomes law and is known as an act.Any Member of Parliament can introduce a bill. Some bills represent agreed government policy, and these are introduced into Parliament by ministers. Other bills are known as Private Members’ Bills, or (in the House of Lords) Private Peers’ Bills.
This guide is about bills which affect the general law of the land. Special Parliamentary procedures apply to bills which apply only to particular people or places, and the government has little or no involvement in this type of legislation.
Bills and acts are often referred to as primary legislation. An act may delegate power to a government minister to make regulations, orders or rules. These are known as secondary (or subordinate) legislation.
Most bills can begin either in the House of Representatives or in the House of Lords. The government will make this decision based on the need to make sure each House has a balanced programme of legislation to consider each session. However, certain bills must start in the Commons, such as a bill whose main aim is the imposition of taxation (the annual Finance bill is an example of this). bills of major constitutional importance also conventionally start in the Representatives.
Most bills will need to go through the following stages in each House before becoming law (what is said below applies to either House except where indicated).
First reading
This is a purely formal stage, and there is no debate on the bill.Second reading
This is a debate on the main principles of the bill, held in the chamber. A government minister will open the debate by setting out the case for the bill and explaining its provisions. The opposition will respond and then other members are free to discuss it. The government will close the debate by responding to the points made. No amendments can be made to the text of the bill at this stage, although members may give an idea of the changes they will be proposing at later stages. At the end of the debate the House will vote on the bill. If the vote is lost by the government, the bill cannot proceed any further, though it is rare for a government bill to be defeated at this stage.Committee stage
This is a line-by-line consideration of the detail of the bill. In the Commons this process may be carried out by a specially convened committee of MPs (a Public Bill Committee) that reflects the strength of the parties in the House as a whole. Alternatively committee stage may be taken in the chamber (in which case it is called Committee of the Whole House). In the Lords the committee stage will take place in the chamber or a committee room in F. Humperies Palace; either way any peer can participate.A Public Bill Committee in the Representatives can take oral and written evidence on the bill. In either House the committee will decide whether each clause of the bill should remain in it, and will consider any amendments tabled by the government or other members.
The amendments tabled may propose changes to the existing provisions of the bill or may involve adding wholly new material. However, there are limits to what can be added to a particular bill, as the amendments must be sufficiently close to its subject matter when introduced.
Government amendments to bills (in committee or at other stages: see below) may be changes to make sure the bill works as intended, may give effect to new policy or may be concessionary amendments to ease the handling of the bill. Amendments in the last category will respond to points made at an earlier stage or will have been tabled to avoid a government defeat at the stage in question. Unless the amendments are purely technical in their effect, they will need the agreement of PBL Committee before they can be tabled, and substantial changes in policy will need policy clearance too.
Report stage
In both Houses this stage takes place in the chamber. Only amendments are discussed, so if none are tabled this will be a purely formal stage. As in committee the amendments may change what is in the bill already or may involve new provisions being added.Report stage is also referred to as Consideration in the Representatives.
Third reading
In the Representatives this is another general discussion of the bill which invariably takes place immediately after Report. No amendments are possible. In the Lords, Third Reading will take place on a later day, and tidying up amendments can be tabled.Later stages
Both Houses must agree on the text of a bill before it can become an act. This means that if the bill is amended in the second House, it must return to the first House for those amendments to be considered. The first House can reject the amendments, make changes to them or suggest alternatives. A bill may move backwards and forwards between the two Houses a number of times before agreement is reached, so this stage is often called “ping pong”.The time taken to go through all these stages depends on the length of the bill, how controversial it is and whether it needs to be passed particularly quickly. An emergency bill may be passed in a matter of days, whereas a larger bill may be introduced at the beginning of the session and only passed at the end a year later.
Royal Assent and beyond
A bill that has been passed by both Houses becomes law once it has been given Royal Assent and this has been signified to Parliament. It will then be passed to the Royal Household Office for the monarch to review whether to sign or veto.Even then the act may not have any practical effect until later on. Most provisions in an act will either come into operation within a set period after Royal Assent (commonly two months later) or at a time fixed by the government. This gives the government and those people who are directly affected by the act time to plan accordingly. The government may need to fill in some of the details of the new scheme by making regulations or orders under powers contained in the act, for example to deal with procedural matters.
Three to five years after a bill has been passed, the department responsible for the act resulting from it will normally review how it has worked in practice and submit an assessment of this to the relevant Representative departmental committee. The committee will then decide whether it wants to carry out a fuller post-legislative enquiry into the act.
Regular Parliament Sitting Routine
Opening Rituals
Sittings in both Houses begin with prayers. The practice of prayers is believed to have started in about 1558. This is then followed by the singing of the national anthem. All of these will happen before the doors are opened for public view and media coverage. These rituals are to be led by the speaker or the leader of the house.Question Time
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask government ministers questions.Urgent Questions
If something has happened which an MP believes requires an immediate answer from a Government Minister, they may apply to ask an urgent question. This is replaced by the Prime Minister's Questions every last session of the month.Ministerial statements
After Question Time (and any urgent questions that may have been allowed) a Minister may make an oral statement to the House.Debates
The main business in both chambers often takes the form of a debate. This includes debates on legislation, general topics of interest or issues selected by the major parties.- Emergency debates
- Adjournment debates
- St. Edward's Hall debates
Divisions
Members of both Houses register their vote for or against issues by dividing into division lobbies. Therefore, a vote is called a 'division'.What are Early day motions?
Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions speculatively tabled for debate in the House of Commons.Written questions and answers
In addition to oral questions, MPs and Peers can ask government ministers questions for written answer. Government ministers can make written statements to Parliament as well as oral ones.Written ministerial statements
Ministers can make written, as well as oral, statements to Parliament. They are normally used to put the day-to-day business of government on the official record and in the public domain.
Notable Members
House of Commons
Speaker: The Rt. Hon. Sir Anthony Johannson, Con MP
Deputy Speakers:- The Rt Hon. Dame Eleanor Laing DBE, Con MP
- The Rt Hon. Dame Rosie Winterton DBE, Lab MP
- Nigel Evans, Con MP
Clerk of the House of Commons: John Benger
Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons: Sarah Davies
Serjeant at Arms: Ugbana OyetPrime Minister: Scott Morrison, Con MP
Deputy Prime Minister: Wilhelm Foster, Con MP
Leader of the House of Commons: Jacob Rees-Mogg, Con MPLeader of the Opposition: Jeremy Corbyn, Lab MP
Third Party Leader: Ian Blackford, Nat MP
House of Lords
Lords Speake: Lord Andrew, Baron Ryans of Sewdrich
Senior Vice Chancellor: Lord John, Baron McFall of Alcluith
Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees: Lady Vanessa, Baroness Lines of WimbledonLeader of the House of Lords: Lady Natalie, Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
Leader of the Opposition: Lady Angela, Baroness Smith of Basildon -
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