The Presentation of Private Members’ Bills took place this week [16 June] in the Commons Chamber.
Twenty lucky MPs were drawn in a Private Members’ Bills ballot which took place last month, and these MPs have spent the past few weeks deciding on which topic they wish to introduce legislation.
The MP from the East of England presenting their bill in Parliament today was Richard Fuller MP (North East Bedfordshire).
Mr Fuller presented his Hare Coursing Bill. The Bill aims to make provision about hare coursing offences and to increase penalties for such offences. It is currently scheduled for a Second Reading debate on 21 January.
See the full list of bills presented including descriptive long titles on our website. It is up to the individual Members to decide on their bill’s topic.
13 Fridays in each parliamentary session are allocated to debating these bills, although they will need to go through all legislative stages in both Houses of Parliament before they can become law (or an ‘Act’). You can find out more on bill stages on our website here.
The Government announced a schedule of sitting Fridays earlier this week, with the first Private Members’ Bill Friday now expected to take place on 10 September.
Priority in debating time is given to those MPs who have appeared near the top of the ballot, although all twenty bills will formally appear on the House of Commons order paper.
Private Members’ Bills are Public Bills introduced by MPs who are not government Ministers. The successful MPs from this year’s ballot will now have their chance to make their mark on the law in the current session.
