Private Members Bill process

This is a very short post to explain the process of how we hope to get the ideas in #LBBill into law through the private members’ bill process.

A private members’ bill is a proposal for a new law from a backbench MP, by contrast to the majority of bills which are put forward by the government. There is a guide to private members bills on the Parliament website.

There are several different types of private members’ bill, but only one type stands any realistic chance of becoming law. This is a ‘ballot bill’ which is introduced by an MP who is drawn in the private members’ bill annual ballot. This ballot is taking place next week, on Thursday 4 June.

The reason getting drawn high up in the ballot matters is that only the first six or seven MPs will get the time required for their bill to be debated in Parliament. So the answer to the question ‘which MP do we want to sponsor #LBBill?’ is a very simple ‘any of the top MPs drawn in the ballot, the higher the better’.

That said, we would like all MPs to be informed about the #LBBill and to support it. If we can get a well-placed sponsor he or she will need to convince dozens of their Parliamentary colleagues to support the bill to get it through the various stages and on to the statute books.

So we would ask all our supporters to keep lobbying their MPs now, and if next week your MP is one of the lucky ones chosen high up in the ballot, get in touch and we can plot further about how to approach them to request their support to be an #LBBill sponsor.