What is a Ballot Bill?
Tue. 3 May 2022
At the start of a new parliamentary Session backbench MPs can enter the PMB ballot. The 20 MPs whose names are drawn may bring in a Bill of their choice. Ballot Bills have the best chance of becoming law because they have priority over other PMBs when time is allocated for debates.
, Director
Dr Ruth Fox
Dr Ruth Fox
Director , Hansard Society
Ruth is responsible for the strategic direction and performance of the Society and leads its research programme. She has appeared before more than a dozen parliamentary select committees and inquiries, and regularly contributes to a wide range of current affairs programmes on radio and television, commentating on parliamentary process and political reform.
In 2012 she served as adviser to the independent Commission on Political and Democratic Reform in Gibraltar, and in 2013 as an independent member of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee Review Group. Prior to joining the Society in 2008, she was head of research and communications for a Labour MP and Minister and ran his general election campaigns in 2001 and 2005 in a key marginal constituency.
In 2004 she worked for Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign in the battleground state of Florida. In 1999-2001 she worked as a Client Manager and historical adviser at the Public Record Office (now the National Archives), after being awarded a PhD in political history (on the electoral strategy and philosophy of the Liberal Party 1970-1983) from the University of Leeds, where she also taught Modern European History and Contemporary International Politics.
Get our latest research, insights and events delivered to your inbox
Share this and support our work
MPs who wish to enter the ballot do so by signing their name against a number in the PMB Ballot Book which is placed in the 'No' Lobby at the side of the Chamber in the days before the ballot takes place.
MPs do not need to provide any details of their proposed bill at this stage: they do not need a title for the bill, and they do not need to specify the subject area or what they are seeking to achieve.
The Private Members’ Bill ballot is usually drawn on the second Thursday of each session (there have been exceptions: for example, in both the 2010-12 and 2015-16 sessions the ballot was moved to the third Thursday of the session). The date and time of the ballot is usually highlighted in advance in the Future Business Paper, and the details will be confirmed on the Order Paper for the requisite day. The ballot is public and is usually live-streamed on Parliamentlive TV. It may also be broadcast live on BBC Parliament.
The principal Deputy Speaker, the Chairman of Ways and Means, presides over the ballot, aided by the Clerk Assistant. Balls with numbers corresponding to the Members' names in the Ballot Book are placed in a bowl. The names of 20 MPs are drawn in reverse order and announced immediately.
The 20 MPs whose names are drawn in the ballot have the opportunity to introduce a PMB of their choice during the session. Those drawn highest in the ballot have the best chance of getting their bill onto the statute book.
The Public Bill Office in the House of Commons provides drafting support to all 20 MPs. A sum of £200 - fixed in 1971 and never revised - is also made available to those MPs who occupy the top 10 places in the ballot. The money is provided to assist with drafting costs but in practice is rarely drawn upon. To ensure the quality of legislation, the government also provides drafting resources through the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for bills which are deemed likely to pass.
Some MPs, rather than generating their own legislative proposals, may instead choose to adopt a government 'handout' bill. These bills generally make technical changes or discrete additions to existing laws. They are bills that the government may have been unable to find time for in its own legislative programme, or which for political reasons it does not wish to steer through Parliament itself. Such legislation is handed to an MP (or Peer) by ministers to take through as a PMB. As handout bills have government support, they have a higher-than-average chance of becoming law.
All 20 MPs must formally present their bills on a subsequent Wednesday which is allocated for presentation of PMBs; this is usually the fifth Wednesday of the session. At presentation (or 1st Reading) stage, the 20 MPs require only the short and long-title of the bill.
Each of the 20 MPs must choose one of the allocated PMB Friday sittings for the 2nd Reading of their bill. MPs can postpone their allocated 2nd Reading day, but they may not bring their 2nd Reading forward to an earlier day.
More
Related
Guides / What is a Ballot Bill?
At the start of a new parliamentary Session backbench MPs can enter the PMB ballot. The 20 MPs whose names are drawn may bring in a Bill of their choice. Ballot Bills have the best chance of becoming law because they have priority over other PMBs when time is allocated for debates.
Guides / What is a Presentation Bill?
Any MP is permitted under Standing Order No. 57 to introduce a bill of his or her choice, having given prior notice to the Public Bill Office. Presentation Bills are formally 'presented' during a Friday sitting, and only after all the Ballot Bills on the Order Paper have been presented.
Guides / What is a Ten Minute Rule Bill?
Ten Minute Rule Bills are essentially policy aims put into legislative language in order to secure a 10-minute speaking slot during 'primetime' in the House of Commons Chamber after Question Time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (but not on Budget day).
Guides / Why are Private Members' Bills debated on a Friday?
Thirteen Friday sittings are set aside in the House of Commons each session for consideration of PMBs, signifying a commitment to provide some freedom from the normal constraint that 'Government business shall have precedence at every sitting' (Standing Order No.14(8)). Unless the House decides otherwise, these are the only Friday sittings held each session.
Guides / What is a Private Members' Bill?
Private Members' Bills (PMBs) are bills introduced by MPs and Peers who are not government ministers. They provide backbenchers with an opportunity to address public concerns and to set a policy agenda that is not determined by the executive. But the procedures, often a source of controversy, are different to those that apply for government bills.
Publications / Opening up the Usual Channels: next steps for reform of the House of Commons
In a speech to the Hansard Society on 11 October 2017, of which the full text and audio recording are below, the House of Commons Speaker, the Rt Hon John Bercow MP, proposed three key reforms for the House: a House Business Committee; reforms to procedures for Private Members' Bills; and a loosening of the government's exclusive control over recalling the House.
Latest
Guides / Financial Scrutiny: the Budget
In order to raise income, the government needs to obtain approval from Parliament for its taxation plans. The Budget process is the means by which the House of Commons considers the government’s plans to impose 'charges on the people' and its assessment of the wider state of the economy.
Guides / Financial Scrutiny: the Estimates Cycle
In order to incur expenditure the government needs to obtain approval from Parliament for its departmental spending plans. The annual Estimates cycle is the means by which the House of Commons controls the government’s plans for the spending of money raised through taxation.
Data / Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard
The national effort to tackle the Coronavirus health emergency has resulted in UK ministers being granted some of the broadest legislative powers ever seen in peacetime. This Dashboard highlights key facts and figures about the Statutory Instruments (SIs) being produced using these powers in the Coronavirus Act 2020 and other Acts of Parliament.
Briefings / The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill: four delegated powers that should be amended to improve future accountability to Parliament
The Bill seeks to crack down on ‘dirty money’ and corrupt elites in the UK and is being expedited through Parliament following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This briefing identifies four delegated powers in the Bill that should be amended to ensure future accountability to Parliament.
Articles / Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation
The end of the transition period is likely to expose even more fully the scope of the policy-making that the government can carry out via Statutory Instruments, as it uses its new powers to develop post-Brexit law. However, there are few signs yet of a wish to reform delegated legislation scrutiny, on the part of government or the necessary coalition of MPs.