Pairing

Pairing is an arrangement where an MP of one party agrees with an MP of an opposing party not to vote in a particular division. This gives both MPs the opportunity not to attend. Such arrangements have to be registered with the Whips, who check that the agreement is stuck to. Pairing is not allowed in divisions of great political importance.

The idea is systematised and pairings can last for months or years. Pairing is an informal arrangement, however, and is not recognised by the House's rules.

Parliament Act of 1911
The Parliament Act of 1911 was an Act introduced by the Liberal Party which reformed Parliament, and the House of Lords in particular, in a number of ways.

It deprived the House of Lords of any powers over Money Bills.
It gave the Speaker the power to decide what was a Money Bill.
It allowed Bills that had been passed by the Commons in three successive sessions, but rejected by the Lords in all three, to become Law.

It reduced the life of a Parliament to five years.

The progress of the Act through Parliament was a difficult one because the House of Lords were opposed to anything that reduced their powers, yet, in order for the proposals to become law the House of Lords had to agree to them.

The King at the time, George V, tried unsuccessfully to settle the matter by discussion between the Liberal and Conservative leaders. Finally George V agreed to create enough Liberal Peers who would support the Bill in the House of Lords provided he could be sure that the reform was what the electorate wanted. There was, therefore, a General Election in December 1910. The Bill was eventually passed by 131 votes to 114 by a House of Lords that preferred to lose some of its powers rather than see 250 new Liberal Peers created.

From this time the House of Lords had no control over the financial proposals of the Commons and could only hold up other legislation for two years. However this meant that the Lords could prevent the passage of Bills during the last two years of a Parliament.

Party System
In Britain the party system has evolved from the historical division of Whigs and Tories in the Stuart period. The Tories were the representatives of the Monarchy and Anglicanism and the Whigs were the aristocratic party of foreign expansion.

Under Gladstone the Whigs became the Liberal Party. In the early decades of the 20th Century the Liberal Party was pledged to social reform whilst the Conservatives stood more for the preservation of vested interests and tariff reform.

The growth of the Labour Party led to the decline of the Liberals in the first part of the twentieth century but, since the 1970s, there have been increasing numbers of parties represented in the House of Commons. While Labour and Conservative have remained the largest parties, the Liberal Democrats have increased their strength, there are MPs from nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales and a number of Northern Ireland parties.

Petition
A petition is a formal written request from one or more people to the Sovereign or Parliament.

Petitions may be sent to Parliament postage free and can be presented formally by an MP with a short speech or informally in the Petition Bag which hangs on the back of the Speaker's Chair.

Petitions have a long history as members of the public have used them to make their feelings known about issues that concern them. A petition is often signed by several thousand people and Parliament receives over a thousand each year.

Because the tradition of petitions is an ancient one, the rules about them can seem out of date. For example a petition must be hand-written and must begin with the words, "To the honourable, the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled".

Point of Order
MPs who believe that a breach of the rules of the House has occurred, or who want clarification on the rules, stand up and say "Point of Order, Mr Speaker". The point of order should then be put and the Speaker gives a ruling.

Points of Order should not develop into debates. Speakers are not impressed with Points of Order being raised to waste time and often reject them as being attempts to make a debating point rather than a genuine Point of Order.

Policies
Policies are the group of ideas on which a political party stands for election. These policies form the basis of any legislation that the Government intend to bring before Parliament.

Printed Paper Office
The Printed Paper Office is the House of Lords' equivalent of the Vote Office and is the office where members of the House of Lords may obtain parliamentary papers such as Bills, marshalled lists of amendments, Lords Minutes and House of Lords reports.

Private Bills
Private Bills are Bills that usually relate to one area, company or individual. The great majority of Private Bills are promoted by local authorities or by private companies. Historically the greatest use of a Private Bill was for the construction of railways in the 19th Century. Proposals for each line or extension of a line had to be put before Parliament.

Private Bills are brought in after a petition by the person or organisation that wants a change in the law. These petitions have to be presented to Parliament on or before November 27th each year. The Chairman of Ways and Means in the Commons and the Lord Chairman of Committees in the Lords decide which Bills should start in the Commons and which in the Lords. In general, substantial local authority legislation and other complex Bills are started in the Lords, but any Bill that is politically contentious is started in the Commons.

The assumption is that a Private Bill will seek rights and powers over and above those sanctioned by public acts or the common law, to which others may wish to object. Parliament therefore requires that the information that a Bill is to be promoted should be given by public advertisements in newspapers, the official gazettes and in writing to all those likely to be affected by a Bill.

Programme Motion
There has long been pressure for Bills to pass through Parliament according to a timetable. For a trial period from 1997-8 certain Bills were selected to be subject to a 'programme motion'. A 'programme motion' has to be agreed by all parties after a short debate.

The programme motion should include details of:

i) the Committee option to be followed

ii) the date by which the Bill should be reported from Committee

iii) the amount of time proposed for the Report Stage and Third Reading

iv) in some circumstances provision for carrying over to the next parliamentary session.

The first programme motion was put down on 13th January 1998 - the Scotland Bill.

Prorogation
When a parliamentary session comes to an end, the House is prorogued until the next session begins. Prorogation is the formal end to the Parliamentary year.

Following prorogation all remaining business falls and has to be re-introduced afresh in the next session.