Private members’ bills and the Parliament Acts

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

1. What are the Parliament Acts?

Generally, both Houses of Parliament must agree on the final text of a bill before it can receive royal assent and become an act of Parliament. However, there are circumstances where a bill can receive royal assent without the consent of the House of Lords. These circumstances are set out in the Parliament Act 1911, as amended by the Parliament Act 1949. These two acts are sometimes referred to collectively as ‘the Parliament Acts’.

The Parliament Acts do not apply to:^[1]

• bills originating in the House of Lords
• bills to extend the life of a parliament beyond five years
• private bills^[2]
• delegated legislation

The conditions that must be fulfilled before a bill can be presented for royal assent under the acts vary according to whether the bill is a ‘money bill’ or not. For a public bill that is not a money bill, the conditions are set out in section 2 of the Parliament Act 1911 (as amended by the Parliament Act 1949) as follows:

• It must be sent to the Lords at least one month before the end of the first session in which it is considered.
• It must be rejected by the House of Lords in that first session. “Rejected” has a wide meaning. If a bill fails to pass through all its stages in the Lords, it is deemed to have been rejected.
• It must then be sent from the Commons to the Lords in the next session of Parliament. One year has to elapse between the date of second reading in the Commons in the first session, and the date on which it is sent to the Lords in the second session.
• The bill in the second session must be identical to the bill sent from the Commons in the first session, with the exception of amendments either made necessary by the passage of time or made by the Lords in the first session.
• It must be sent from the Commons to the Lords at least one month before the end of the second session.
• It must be rejected by the Lords in the second session. “Rejected” has the same wide meaning as in the first session.
• Before the bill can receive royal assent, the speaker of the House of Commons has to certify that the conditions set out in section 2 of the Parliament Act 1911, as amended, have been complied with.

The House of Lords ‘Companion to the standing orders and guide to the proceedings of the House of Lords’ explains that the effect of this is that the Lords have the power to delay enactment of a public bill until the session after that in which it was first introduced and until at least 13 months have elapsed from the date of second reading in the Commons in the first session.^[3]

Under the original 1911 act, the Lords’ powers of delay were longer. It required the Lords to have rejected a bill in three successive sessions and two years to have elapsed between the date of second reading in the House of Commons in the first session and third reading in the House of Commons in the third session.^[4] The 1949 act reduced these timescales to the present requirements.

Different conditions apply to money bills. A money bill is a bill that has been certified as such by the speaker of the House of Commons because, in the speaker’s opinion, it contains only provisions dealing with national, but not local, taxation, public money, or loans or their management.^[5] A money bill can be presented for royal assent without the consent of the Lords if:^[6]

• it is passed by the Commons
• it is sent to the Lords at least one month before the end of the session
• it is not passed by the Lords without amendment within a month after it is sent to them
• the Commons does not direct to the contrary

2. Do the Parliament Acts apply to private members’ bills?

Private members’ bills are a type of public bill. A private member’s bill could therefore be eligible for the procedure under the Parliament Acts, providing it met the conditions set out in section 1 of this briefing. The government stated its position in January 2026 that the Parliament Acts apply to private members’ bills.^[7]

However, to date the Parliament Acts have only been used to pass government bills. Three acts were passed under the terms of the original Parliament Act 1911 without the agreement of the House of Lords:

• Government of Ireland Act 1914
• Welsh Church Act 1914
• Parliament Act 1949

Four acts have been passed using the Parliament Acts since the 1949 act:

• War Crimes Act 1991
• European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999
• Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000
• Hunting Act 2004

The House of Commons Library briefing ‘The Parliament Acts’ (25 February 2016) gives further details about the four most recent instances where the Parliament Acts procedure was used.

According to press reporting, when David Cameron (now Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton) was prime minister, he said he would use the Parliament Acts to pass legislation on an EU referendum if it did not get through the House of Lords.^[8] However, in the event this did not happen.

The European Union (Referendum) Bill was introduced as a House of Commons private member’s bill in the 2013–14 session. The bill was a private member’s bill, but it had the support of the prime minister and the Conservative Party.^[9] It passed all its stages in the House of Commons, but the House of Lords voted to end committee stage before all amendments had been considered.^[10] The bill was reintroduced as a private member’s bill in the 2014–15 session by a different Conservative MP. However, it did not progress past second reading in the House of Commons in that session; the coalition government did not bring forward a money resolution, so it could not proceed to committee stage.^[11] This bill did not meet the criteria for use of the Parliament Acts, since it was not passed by the Commons in two successive sessions. The Conservative government subsequently introduced a government bill in the 2015–16 session to legislate for an EU referendum. The European Union Referendum Act 2015 went on to receive royal assent without use of the Parliament Acts.

3. Could the Parliament Acts be used to pass the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill?

It has been suggested that the Parliament Acts could be used to pass the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a private member’s bill, if it does not complete its House of Lords stages before the end of the 2024–26 parliamentary session.^[12]

As a public bill, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill could receive royal assent under the Parliament Acts provided it met all the conditions required, as set out in section 1 of this briefing. This would mean that:

• A bill would have to be sent from the Commons to the Lords in the next session of Parliament. One year would have to have elapsed between the date of second reading in the Commons in the current session and the date on which the bill was sent to the Lords in the next session. The bill’s second reading in the Commons in the current session was on 29 November 2024.
• The bill in the next session would have to be identical to the bill sent from the Commons in this session, with the exception of amendments either made necessary by the passage of time or made by the Lords in the current session. As of 30 January 2026, the Lords has not made any amendments to the bill.
• The bill would have to be sent from the Commons to the Lords at least one month before the end of the next session.
• It would have to be rejected by the Lords in the next session. “Rejected” has the same wide meaning as before—if the bill did not pass all its Lords stages in the next session, it would be deemed to have been rejected.
• The speaker of the House of Commons would have to certify that the conditions set out in section 2 of the Parliament Act 1911, as amended, had been complied with.

Some have suggested that securing parliamentary time for such a bill in the House of Commons in the next session could be an issue. Under the House of Commons standing orders, time is set aside for private members’ bills on 13 Fridays each parliamentary session.^[13] At other times, government business takes precedence. MPs who come high up in the private members’ bill ballot held at the start of each parliamentary session can nominate one of the first seven of these Fridays for second reading of their bill. Consequently, private members’ bills introduced in the House of Commons as ballot bills have more chance of making progress than the other types of Commons private members’ bills (ten minute rule bills and presentation bills).^[14]

Commenting on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the Hansard Society argued that:

It would take an unusual combination of circumstances, challenging to orchestrate, for a private member’s bill to be passed using [the Parliament Acts]. A backbench MP high enough up in the private members’ bill ballot would need to adopt the bill and be able to navigate it through the Commons PMB [private member’s bill] procedures without amendment in the limited time available, in accordance with the conditions set out [in the Parliament Acts].^[15]

Another possibility could be for the government to give some of its own time in the House of Commons to the bill. However, it is rare for a government to give government time to a private member’s bill.^[16] Alternatively, the government could introduce the bill as a government bill. However, during recent debates in the House of Lords about parliamentary time for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Lords in this session, the government said “the bill will remain a private member’s bill” and “no government time will be allocated for the bill”.^[17]

If a bill were to be introduced as a private member’s bill in one session and a government bill in the next session, this would not prevent it being considered as the “same” bill. A bill is deemed to be the “same” bill as one introduced in the previous session if the two bills are identical, or if the only alterations to the text are those set out in section 2(4) of the Parliament Act 1911 as amended (these are discussed further in section 4 of this briefing).

4. If the Parliament Acts were used to pass the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, could the bill be amended?

The Parliament Acts require that the bill presented for royal assent is identical to the bill passed by the House of Commons in the first session with some exceptions. These are set out in section 2(4) of the Parliament Act 1911 as amended.

The Commons speaker can certify a bill if it has changes necessary for the passage of time (for example, commencement dates being updated). It is also possible for the bill to include some amendments which were made by the House of Lords in the first session. There is also a procedure for the Commons suggesting amendments—the Lords would consider those as a package alongside the bill at second reading in the second session and take a separate decision on them. There is a possibility that the Lords could also make amendments in the second session depending on time, and on agreement being reached between the two Houses on all amendments, the bill could be amended and passed in the second session. If that happened, then the Parliament Acts would be overtaken. If the House of Lords did not pass the bill in the second session, or both Houses had not agreed on all amendments in ping pong, then the version of the bill which would be presented for royal assent at the end of the session would be the one sent by the Commons.

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