Private members’ bills in the House of Lords

Approximate read time: 15 minutes

1. What issues do private members’ bills tend to cover?

1.1 Subject matter

There is no limit to the scope or subject matter of private members’ bills introduced in either the House of Lords or the House of Commons. Private members’ bills have been introduced on a broad range of topics. There have been several attempts to identify certain shared characteristics for private members’ bills. These include their length, level of complexity and the extent to which the subject matter may be controversial. With the exception of length, these are subjective categories.

Nicolas Besly and Tom Goldsmith, the authors of the book ‘How Parliament Works’, note the subjects  covered by successful private members’ bills are difficult to categorise given their wide variety.^[1] However, they identified two broad groups. The first included bills that seek to address social issues. During the 20th century, private members’ bills were used as a vehicle for implementing significant changes concerning social issues. For example, in the 1960s, private members’ bills were passed to abolish the death penalty, to legalise abortion, to enact a partial legalisation of homosexuality and to end theatre censorship.^[2]

The second group included bills intended to tidy up anomalies or gaps identified in the statute book. Recent private members’ bills introduced in the House of Lords that received royal assent all match the description of legislation seeking to address what their proposers saw as gaps in existing legislation. For example, the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023, introduced by Lord Hayward (Conservative) during the 2022–23 session, created a new offense of ‘family voting’, where more than one voter is present in a polling booth at the same time thereby violating the principle of voter secrecy.^[3] The Children Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2019, introduced by Lord Berkeley of Knighton (Crossbench) during the 2017–19 session, sought to close a gap in the law in relation to proceedings for female genital mutilation protection orders in order to improve the ability of the courts to protect children at risk of female genital mutilation.^[4]

1.2 Length and complexity

Another theme concerns the length and complexity of private members’ bills. The House of Lords Constitution Committee has described it as common for private members’ bills introduced in either House to be “short and not […] contain detailed schedules”.^[5] This is in part a practical consideration given the many hurdles which a private member’s bill must overcome before it can become an act, as described in section 5 of this briefing. The average length of private members’ bills introduced in the Lords since the 1999–2000 session achieving royal assent was four pages.^[6]

1.3 Controversy

A further theme which has been identified is that private members’ bills tend to be uncontroversial. Professor Meg Russell, in her 2013 study ‘The Contemporary House of Lords’, characterised most private members’ bills introduced in the House of Lords as being similar to their House of Commons counterparts in that they are on “small and non-controversial” areas of law.^[7] However, as Professor Russell noted, this is not exclusively the case. She cited the bills on assisted dying for the terminally ill introduced by Lord Joffe (Labour) in the 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 sessions as contemporary examples of the use of private members’ bills as a means of raising a controversial issue. A bill on this issue, entitled the Assisted Dying Bill [HL], was also sponsored during the 2015–16 and 2019–21 sessions by Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Labour), during the 2016–17 session by Lord Hayward (Conservative), and during the 2021–22 session by Baroness Meacher (Crossbench). None of these bills progressed to receive royal assent.

During the 2024–26 session, Lord Falconer introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill [HL], which would also have allowed for assisted dying for the terminally ill. At the time of writing this bill has yet to have a date scheduled for second reading in the House of Lords. Lord Falconer has said he would not proceed with this bill following the confirmation that a date had been set for second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons, a private member’s bill introduced by Kim Leadbeater (Labour MP for Spen Valley).^[8]

2. How many private members’ bills are introduced each session?

Over the last 10 sessions, an average of 48 private members’ bills were introduced in the House of Lords per session.^[9] The order in which private members’ bills are introduced each session is determined by ballot.^[10] Twenty-five bills are drawn from the ballot at the start of each session. However, private members’ bills may be introduced at any time during a session.^[11] The use of a ballot was introduced during the 2015–16 session.^[12]

The power of members of the House of Lords not on the government benches to introduce legislation is similar to that enjoyed by members of the House of Commons.^[13] However, the average number introduced in the House of Commons each session is higher. Over the last 10 sessions an average of 166 private members’ bills were introduced in the Commons per session. In the House of Commons, private members’ bills include balloted bills, ten minute rule bills and presentation bills. These are subject to different procedures. There are 20 balloted bills each session. Balloted bills are more likely to become acts than ten minute rule bills and presentation bills as they are given priority in terms of the availability of time for debating private members’ bills in the Commons.^[14]

3. How many private members’ bills become acts?

Only a minority of the private members’ bills introduced in the House of Lords and the House of Commons have received royal assent. Of these, the majority that received royal assent originated in the House of Commons. For example, during the last 10 sessions, only four private members’ bills starting in the House of Lords completed all of their stages and became acts. During the same period, 89 private members’ bills starting in the House of Commons became acts. Table 1 provides the total number of private members’ bills introduced in each House per session during the last 10 sessions and the number that became acts.

(House of Lords, ‘Public bill statistics’, accessed 10 October 2025; and House of Commons, ‘Sessional returns’, accessed 10 October 2025)

4. Which Lords private members’ bills have received royal assent?

Table 2 lists those private members’ bills introduced in the House of Lords since the 1999–2000 session which have received royal assent.

5. What hurdles do private members’ bills face in both Houses?

Private members’ bills in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords face several hurdles before they can become law. One of the potential hurdles is the availability of time. More time is allocated to government business in both the Commons and the Lords. For example, over the past 10 sessions, on average 4% of time in the main Chamber in the House of Lords was spent on private members’ bills compared to 41% on government legislation.^[15]

The way in which time is allocated for the scrutiny of private members’ bills in the House of Lords is different than in the House of Commons. In the House of Commons, a set number of sitting Fridays each session is allocated for scrutiny of private members’ bills and, on those Fridays when such time is reserved, business cannot proceed beyond a certain time.^[16] In the House of Lords’ procedure there is more flexibility. There are also no specific times allocated for debates on private members’ bills although private members’ bills tend to be debated on sitting Fridays.^[17] Over the last 10 sessions prior to the 2024–26 session, the House of Lords sat on an average of 13 Fridays each session.^[18] Members often consider three or four private members’ bills during a Friday sitting. However, there is no limit on the number of Friday sittings that can be used for debating private members’ bills. There is also no set time at which the House of Lords must adjourn during Friday sittings, although the companion to the standing orders states it is a “firm convention” that the House normally rises “by about 3pm on Fridays”.^[19] During the 2024–26 session, Friday sittings have become more frequent. The House has sat on 23 Fridays so far this session.

As a result, while more time is allocated to government business in both the Commons and the Lords, there can be greater opportunities for private members’ bills to be debated in the Lords. However, this does not result in Lords private members’ bills being more likely to reach royal assent. If a private member’s bill completes all its stages in the House of Lords, it still must then be considered in the House of Commons where it will face the same constraints on the availability of time as private members’ bills starting in the Commons. Private member’s bills face other procedural obstacles. For example, bills must be sponsored by an MP in order to proceed. On the first seven Fridays allotted to private members’ bills in the House of Commons each session, precedence is also given to ballot bills introduced in the Commons.^[20] Unlike government bills, private members’ bills originating in either House cannot be carried over from one session into another.^[21] Therefore, any private members’ bills that fail to complete all their stages before the end of a session will fall.

As a result of the potential constraints on the time available for scrutinising private members’ bills, the tabling of amendments may have an impact on their ability to progress, especially if those amendments are opposed by the sponsor of the bill. Of the 12 private members’ bills introduced in the House of Lords that received royal assent since the 1999–2000 session, three passed without any amendments being tabled. A further six did have amendments tabled to them but all of these amendments were accepted. There were only three bills to which amendments were tabled and not accepted: the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL], introduced during the 2006–07 session, and the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill [HL] and the National Heritage Bill [HL], both introduced during the 2001–02 session.^[22]

The chances of a private member’s bill being able to progress may be improved by the bill receiving government support. The Cabinet Office’s guidance to ministers and civil servants on legislation states the government should agree a handling position on private members’ bills before second reading of that bill.^[23] However, although the bill may receive government support, only a minority ever receive government time.^[24]

6. Why do members introduce private members’ bills?

Although only a minority of private members’ bills starting in the House of Lords become law, there are a number of other reasons why a member of the House of Lords might table a private member’s bill beyond seeking a change in the law. In its 2011 report on private members’ bills in the House of Commons, ‘Enhancing the role of backbench MPs: Proposals for reform of private members’ bills’, the Hansard Society identified a number of aims an MP might seek to achieve by tabling a private member’s bill, some of which also might apply to those starting in the House of Lords. One was for private members’ bills being used to ‘prod’ the government into changing a policy.^[25] The Hansard Society suggested this might lead to a minister agreeing to bring forward their own legislation to avoid the passage of an unwanted private member’s bill, or to increase awareness of a particular issue, encouraging the government to introduce its own legislation in the future. Professor Meg Russell, Daniel Gover and Kristina Wollter of University College London, in their study of the influence of Parliament on the executive, identified this process as one of a number of ways in which Parliament influences policy before the formal legislative process begins.^[26]

David Natzler and Douglas Millar, in their chapter for the 1993 publication ‘The House of Lords at Work’, identified a number of advantages for a member in tabling a private member’s bill as a tool for furthering debate on an issue.^[27] They argued that the successive stages of a bill in the Lords allow for a subject to be debated numerous times each session and requires the government to respond in detail to a specific set of proposals. It also allows for the possibility of a vote on a substantive issue. Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative) has also commented that private members’ bills can often be a means of airing issues that are likely to engage the public, claiming that “members of the public are sometimes more engaged with issues raised in private members’ bills than they are with the normal run of government legislation”.^[28]

Private members’ bills may also be introduced in the House of Lords in order to make it more likely that a private member’s bill introduced in the House of Commons receive royal assent. For example, the House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill was a private member’s bill introduced by Dan Byles (the then Conservative MP for North Warwickshire), which received royal assent in the 2013–14 session, becoming the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.^[29] This bill was similar to the House of Lords Reform Bill [HL], tabled by Lord Steel of Aikwood (Liberal Democrat) in the same session, and included many of the proposals for Lords reform put forward by Lord Steel in previous sessions.^[30] The reverse of this process may also take place, with a bill introduced in the Commons being dropped in order for a bill introduced in the House of Lords to proceed.

Finally, a private member’s bill can be used to introduce legislation proposed and supported by the government, yet which has not been introduced as part of the government’s own legislative agenda.^[31] Such private members’ bills are often described as ‘handout bills’ and are drafted by the government or with the government’s aid. However, the Cabinet Office’s guidance to ministers and civil servants on legislation encourages handout bills to be given to MPs in the first instance, noting that a bill starting in the House of Lords is less likely to become an act.^[32]

7. Read more

• House of Lords Library, ‘Private members’ bills with government support lost at dissolution 2024: How close was Parliament to changing the law on licensing hours, puppy smuggling, virtual court hearings and more?’, 27 August 2024

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Image © House of Lords 2024 / photography by Roger Harris