How do mps influence decision making

The process of debate. With a few exceptions all business, including the passage of legislation, is dealt with as a series of motions which are debated and decided one at a time.

Moving a motion —a motion is a formal proposal made to the House that it take action of some kind, for example, that the House do something, order something to be done or express a particular opinion. The moving of and voting on motions is the basic building block of parliamentary procedure. Decisions the House makes are made by it agreeing to a motion, including decisions on the management of its own affairs.

In summary, the steps in the processing of a motion are:. Generally speaking, procedural motions are moved without notice, cannot be amended or debated, and must be voted on immediately. Notice —advance warning of what is to be considered.

It is necessary to avoid decisions being taken without the prior knowledge of Members. A Member gives notice of their intention to move a motion or present a bill by giving a copy to the Clerk in the Chamber. The notice is printed in the Notice Paper for the next sitting. Seconding —formal declaration of support. A motion must have at least some support before time is devoted to debating it. There are two main exceptions to the requirement for a seconder—motions moved during the consideration in detail of a bill and motions moved by a Minister.

In the former case the need for a seconder would restrict the rights of individual Members to propose alterations to the text of bills and in the latter case Ministers are assumed to have the support of the entire ministry when they move a motion. Only one question can be considered by the House at one time. When the question is finally put to the House for decision it may be different from the original motion, depending on whether amendments have been agreed to.

Amendments —an amendment to a motion may propose to omit, insert or add words. Amendments may be made to amendments. Some proceedings are not included in this definition of debate as there is no motion before the House for decision, for example the discussion of a matter of public importance and Question Time. If a motion is agreed to it becomes a resolution and is binding on those it affects.

A resolution once agreed to can only be reconsidered by first agreeing to a motion to rescind the resolution. Rules of debate. The purpose of debate is to reach a decision. Rules are necessary to ensure decisions are reached without undue delay and, at the same time, to allow all points of view to be considered.

The rules applying in the House of Representatives are outlined below. Enforcing the rules. Without order in the House no worthwhile debate can take place. It is the task of the person chairing the debate—the Speaker or one of their deputies—to enforce the rules of the House and maintain order. The Chair has a certain amount of discretion in interpreting the rules, and the strictness with which they enforce them varies, depending on the situation.

It is often less disruptive to the flow of debate to ignore a minor infringement. Points of order. The Chair then responds to and may rule on the matter. Content of debate. Restrictions to ensure debate is relevant. Restrictions to maintain order. Restriction to avoid prejudicing the course of justice. Programming of debate.

More information about programming the business of the House can be found in Infosheets No. Length of speeches. Time limits are imposed by the standing orders, and vary from 5 to 30 minutes. In addition, there is provision for a period of 90 second statements in the House each sitting day and in the Federation Chamber on Mondays, and for a period of 3 minute statements in the Federation Chamber each day it meets. Who can speak—allocation of the call. Occupants of the Chair follow the tradition of alternating the call between government and opposition Members, leaving reasonable opportunities for non-aligned members and minor parties.

Parties in coalition share the call in proportion to their numbers. The Chair also usually gives priority to the Prime Minister, Ministers except when intending to speak in reply and thus close debate and party leaders and deputy leaders over the other Members of their respective parties.

To assist the Chair a list of intending speakers is supplied by the party whips. The Chair usually follows the list, but does not have to do so. The general rule is that each Member is allowed to speak only once on each question before the Chair. As an amendment results in a new question being put from the Chair, a Member who has already spoken to a motion may also speak on the amendment. Movers of motions may speak again in reply to sum up the arguments at the end of a debate.

During the consideration in detail stage of bills when the bills may be amended Members may speak as many times as they wish. Pressure groups may also have influence inside Parliament if there is an MP who is a member of the group or is sympathetic to it. MPs with affiliations to pressure groups must declare an interest when speaking on behalf of the group. MPs are not allowed to receive payment for promoting the cause unless they declare it. Insider groups may be involved in decision-making processes by being on committees with ministers, MPs and civil servants, as well as writing advisory papers and sponsoring MPs.

Outsider groups also have an opportunity to lobby politicians and their views will often be taken into consideration. There is criticism of the undue influence that may be wielded by large and wealthy groups. There are very large and wealthy pressure groups which can afford to use expert parliamentary lobbyists, who know the parliamentary and legislative system and can make direct contact with ministers and MPs.

Some people argue that some pressure groups have more opportunities than others to influence what decisions are made by Parliament. Pressure group methods Sometimes pressure groups might be seen as a threat to democracy because a relatively small, unelected group of individuals can force a change in the law. Demonstrations Demonstrations are an example of direct action, which may or may not have an effect on a government.

Petitions Petitions are another way to raise awareness among politicians of public feeling about a specific issue.