6. The House of Lords

If the Bill started life in the House of Commons it is now passed to the House of Lords where it goes through the same five stages outlined above and, if the House of Lords makes amendments to the Bill, then it will go back to the House of Commons for it to consider those amendments. If the Bill started in the House of Lords then it passes to the House of Commons.

7. Royal Assent

The final stage is where the monarch formally gives approval to the Bill and it then becomes an Act of Parliament. This is now a formality and, under the Royal Assent Act 1961, the monarch will not even have the text of the Bills to which she is assenting. The last time that a monarch refused assent was in 1707, when Queen Anne refused to assent to the Scottish Militia Bill.

Words and phrases you need to know

1. draft v (write or compose ‘draft a contract, )

2. issue n (a point in dispute between two or more parties)

issue v (to officially make a statement)

3. debate n ( dispute) debate v (to discuss a subject formally)

4. amendment n (a formal revision or addition proposed or made to a statute)

5. implement v (put into practice, bring into force)

6. commence v (begin) commencement n (the beginning of something)

7. access to n (means of entering, approach)

8. pass v (to enact a legislative bill, an act, a resolution)

9. principle n (idea behind sth; a basic rule, law, or doctrine )

Reading notes:

White paper – an official report from the British government, usually explaining the government’s ideas and plans concerning a particular subject before it suggest a new law in Parliament.

Easter – 1. Easter Sunday a special day in the Christian religion in March or April when Christians remember the date of Jesus and celebrate his return to life. 2. the period just before and after Easter Sunday, including Good Friday and Easter Monday, which are public holidays in the UK: the Easter holidays.

disabled – people who are physically disabled.

Exercise 1. Read the following sentences, notice carefully the active words in bold, and translate the sentences into Russian.

Draft

1. Eva’s busy drafting her speech for the conference.

2. He drafted a letter to the bank manager.

3. The great majority of Acts of Parliament are introduced by the Government – these are initially drafted by lawyers in the civil service who are known as Parliamentary Counsel to the Treasury.

Issue

1. She issued a statement denying all knowledge of the affair.

2. The US State department issues millions of passports each year.

3. On some issues the Government will first seek the response of interested parties by the publication of a consultative paper.

Debate

1. His conclusions are hotly debated ( = argued about strongly).

2. In fact in the House of Commons there will only be an actual further debate on the Bill as a whole if at least six MPs request it

3. Those MPs who wish to speak in the debate must catch the Speaker’s eye, since the Speaker controls all debates and no-one may speak without being called on by the Speaker.

Amendment

1. He seized the chance to make amendments to the resolution.

2. If the Bill started life in the House of Commons it is now passed to the House of Lords where it goes through the same five stages outlined above and, if the House of Lords makes amendments to the Bill, then it will go back to the House of Commons for it to consider those amendments.

3. In spite of Government control of the Commons, Parliament is not a mere rubber stamp, because it gives opportunities for members to question, criticize, publicize, explain and amend the detailed provisions or the bill, and few bills emerge without at least some amendments.