Higher proportion of Private Member's Bills passed in UK

Assume over the last 50 years or so, a larger number of Private Member's Bills that have actually been introduced were actually pased. Assume also that in 1958 or thereabouts there was legislation introduced preventing bills from being 'talked out' -so they HAVE to go to a vote. (I supose this might slow down the rate at which legislature is passed considerably tho'.)

What changes?
 
It would depend on what sort of PMBs you are talking about. The most successful PMBs are, obviously enough, ones which basically have a good level of support in the Commons and often some sort of patronage by someone in the government - c.f Jenkins and abortion. The 'whackier' bills don't get passed precisely because nobody supports them, by and large.

To get this really going though, you'd have to change the party system quite a bit. No, fundamentally, actually. We're talking about a different system of government really. Maybe.
 
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A couple of things:
Pardon me, but I don't know what a "Private Member" is. I'm not British. I don't know if Australians would know the term?

Also, did anybody else think of Austin Powers' use of the word "member?" :D:rolleyes::eek:
 

Krall

Banned
A couple of things:
Pardon me, but I don't know what a "Private Member" is. I'm not British. I don't know if Australians would know the term?

A Private Members' Bill is a Bill proposed by an MP, not by the leading political party.

They rarely get passed because they don't have the automatic backing of the MP's party, and they have a '10 minute rule' on the First Reading, when the MP is meant to read out the title and general role of his proposal, because of the 10 minute rule the MP often doesn't get to say what he wants because of 'filibustering', when other MPs shout at him and ask useless questions just to waste time.
 
Thank you.

It would help to have a list of these Private Member Bills.

If they couldn't be "talked out" it might be harder to decide how to vote on them. "Talking them out" seems like it would be helpful, though the filibustering would be a hindrance. Beyond that I don't know. :)
 
A Private Members' Bill is a Bill proposed by an MP, not by the leading political party.

They rarely get passed because they don't have the automatic backing of the MP's party, and they have a '10 minute rule' on the First Reading, when the MP is meant to read out the title and general role of his proposal, because of the 10 minute rule the MP often doesn't get to say what he wants because of 'filibustering', when other MPs shout at him and ask useless questions just to waste time.

Let's say we simply remove the 10-minute rule. What bills might just stand a chance to get past it? Any ideas?
 
A couple of things:
Pardon me, but I don't know what a "Private Member" is. I'm not British. I don't know if Australians would know the term?

A brief primer: we have them, too, nominally. Homosexual acts between consenting adults were decriminalised federally by a PMB in 1973 (sponsored by former Liberal PM John Gorton, and backed by Gough). But the British have loose party discipline, and we have really, really, really strict party discipline, so they're pretty much meaningless in practice.
 
The proposed Canadian annexation of the Turks and Caicos in 1974 was a PMB (well I don't know if it was a bill but anyway)
 
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