MPs get law-making chance

Friday, 3 December 2004 12:00 AM

20 MPs have got their chance to suggest new laws in the 2004-05 session of parliament.

Normally only those at the top of the list have a realistic chance to get their bills through. This year the list is topped by two senior Conservatives. First is frontbencher Patrick Mercer who speaks on constitutional affairs and homeland security and second is the party's vice-chairman Nigel Evans.

Labour backbenchers Stephen Hepburn, Julie Morgan, Kevin Barron and Kevan Jones complete the top six.

Mr Jones has the distinction of being one of only five MPs to get their private members bill (PMB) into law in the last session, with his Christmas Day Trading Act, designed to prevent shops opening on Christmas Day become law.

PMBs are designed to provide individuals MPs with an opportunity to get measures that they feel strongly about into law. At the beginning of every parliamentary session the names of 20 MPs names are drawn at random and they then have the opportunity to put their bill before the House.

However, the likelihood of these bills becoming law has been declining in recent years, with only five PMBs making the statute book in the 2003-04 session. With this parliamentary session likely to be shorter than most due to a possible general election the chances may be even less this year.

Last year's number was the lowest for a full session of Parliament in at least twenty years. It is also the lowest tally since the short session preceding the 2001 General Election when no Private Members' Bills were passed.

By comparison, 13 bills became law in the 2002-2003 Parliamentary session and the High Hedges Bill was incorporated into the Anti-Social Behaviour Act.

Alex Brazier, a senior research fellow at the Hansard Society, said so many Private Members' Bills failed because parliamentary procedure allowed them to be defeated by a single MP, even if they commanded strong overall support.

The rules also allowed the Government too much control, he said.

"If the people who have finished high in the ballot put through bills the Government really doesn't want, unofficially the whips can make sure they don't go through."

In a book shortly to be released by the society, Mr Brazier calls for changes to procedures to allow well-supported bills to be "carried over" so they are not lost at the end of a session, and for more time to be given to Private Members' Bills on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

He also suggests Parliament sets up a Private Members' Bill select committee that could guarantee PMBs a "timetable" in the House if they were well supported.

The full list of MPs drawn from the hat this year is:

1) Patrick Mercer
2) Nigel Evans
3) Stephen Hepburn
4) Julie Morgan
5) Kevin Barron
6) Kevan Jones
7)Sir Paul Beresford
8) Michael Weir
9) Marsha Singh
10) Gerald Howarth
11) Andrew Stunell
12) Neil Gerrard
13) Stephen Pound
14) Tony Baldry
15) Ian Cawsey
16) Roger Williams
17) Anne Taylor
18) Geraint Davies
19) Alan Williams
20) Peter Bradley

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