How rare is a second day of second reading in the House of Lords?

Approximate read time: 5 minutes

1. Is there a rule that second readings should be done in one day?

Second readings in the House of Lords usually take place on one day, but this is not mandated by the standing orders.^[1]

2. How often is second reading held over more than one day?

Journal Office records and Lords Library research have identified 33 bills since 1945 that had more than one sitting day of second reading debate in the House of Lords.

3. How many of those were private members’ bills?

Aside from the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, two of the bills identified were private members’ bills: the Death Penalty (Abolition) Bill and the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Bill. The latter became the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965. Those bills both started in the House of Commons.

4. Why do some bills have more than one day of second reading?

Members speaking in the debates have referred to the strength of feeling, breadth of views, and essentially, the number of members who wished to speak. For example, opening the first day of what would be two days of second reading on the Health and Social Care Bill in 2011, then parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department of Health Earl Howe said:

This is a bill of profound importance for the quality and delivery of health and care in England, for patients and for all those who care for them. As such it has been, quite rightly, the subject of intense scrutiny […]. Indeed, the intensity of the spotlight directed at its content over the last few months is borne out by the number of your Lordships who wish to speak today and tomorrow.^[2]

Similarly, on the second day of the 2007 second reading debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL], members commented that the bill was “of exceptional social and ethical importance” and remarked on the “wide-ranging” debate and expertise of the House.^[3]

5. Have any bills had more than two days of second reading?

Of the 33 bills, the majority had second readings held over two days. However, some had longer. For example, second reading of the 1953 Transport Bill took three days. The bill, which became the Transport Act 1953, denationalised road haulage and included reorganisation for the railways.

In 1948, second reading of the Parliament Bill took place over six days. This bill became the Parliament Act 1949, which enables the government to pass legislation without the approval of the House of Lords under certain circumstances after a delay of one year.

6. Are the days usually consecutive?

Yes, in most cases the days were consecutive, or close together. Again, the Parliament Bill stands out, with its first day of second reading taking place on 27 January 1948, and its last on 9 June 1948.

7. What happens procedurally when the debate is over more than one day?

At the end of the day the debate is adjourned rather than concluded. The debate is later resumed.

In some of the examples, amendments were put down which sought to either stop a bill progressing or to express the House’s view on the bill, or an aspect of it. This is not unique to bills with second readings longer than a day, but is more often found in the case of contentious bills. For example, on the second day of second reading debate in 2013, members divided on whether to decline to give the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill a second reading.^[4] The result was 148 contents to 390 not contents, so the bill progressed and ultimately became the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales.

8. Are multi-day second readings always planned in advance?

There is a precedent for the decision to extend second reading not being discussed until after the start of the debate. At the end of the first day of second reading on the Park Lane Improvement Bill in 1958, Hansard shows then secretary of state for Commonwealth relations Earl Home wanted to explore the option of extending second reading:

My Lords, we have arranged to interrupt business at this point in order to deal with leave of absence questions. There are still a number of noble Lords who wish to speak on the bill before the House. I suggest that my noble friend Lord Mancroft [the then minister without portfolio] might make some inquiries to ascertain whether it is felt that we should continue with this bill later today, or adjourn the discussion until tomorrow, and I can move something to that effect at a later stage.^[5]

The debate was resumed the following day.

9. What are the most recent bills that have had more than one day of second reading?

Before the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the most recent bills that had more than one day of second reading were three government bills related to the UK’s exit from the EU:

• the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill during the 2016–17 session
• the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill during the 2017–19 session
• the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill during the 2019–21 session

All of these passed into law.

10. Are there any other repeated topics?

House of Lords reform appears on the list more than once, including the 1953 Life Peers Bill, the 1957 Life Peerages Bill, and the 1999 House of Lords Bill.

There were also two bills on industrial relations: the 1971 Industrial Relations Bill and the 1974 Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill.

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Image: House of Lords 2023/photography by Roger Harris