If it loses the Supreme Court appeal on Article 50, the Government says it will introduce legislation to give Parliament a vote on triggering Brexit talks. Dr Hannah White sets out what that process will involve.
What could an Article 50 bill look like?
An Article 50 bill is likely to be as brief as possible, perhaps just a single clause. At a minimum, it will need to give the Government authority to notify the European Council of the UK’s intention to leave the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.
Depending on what the Supreme Court judgement requires, the bill might need to include additional detail, for example, about what the Government should do prior to making such a notification.
It is possible that the Government might seek to include other provisions, although they would have to weigh their desirability against their impact on the timescale for getting the legislation through Parliament.
Can the bill be changed once introduced?
Any proposed amendment has to fall within the ‘scope’ of a bill, which the parliamentary bible Erskine May describes as ‘the reasonable limits of [the bill’s] collective purposes, as defined by its existing clauses and schedules.’ If MPs want to propose new additions to the bill (new clauses or schedules), these also have to be within scope. This means MPs cannot hijack the bill to make it about something different to Article 50.
That being said, there is no way to make this sort of bill unamendable. Any clause, however short, could be subject to amendment. And lawmakers don’t even have to be constrained by the title of a bill – they can make amendments ‘relevant to the subject matter of the bill’ provided that they then extend the ‘long title’ (which provides a summarised description of the purpose or scope of the legislation) to cover any agreed amendments that fall outside it.
Amendments in the Commons may be hampered by the fact that the Government probably won’t introduce a ‘money resolution’ – which is needed to authorise a bill to do things that cost money. Without a money resolution, amendments that would involve spending money – to afford a second referendum, for example – won’t be allowed.
Who will decide what changes to the bill can be discussed?
The main stages for amending bills are the committee and report stages in each House.
In the Commons, decisions about whether amendments are ‘in order’ and the grouping of amendments for debate are made by whoever is chairing proceedings. Because of its constitutional significance, an Article 50 bill is likely to be considered in a ‘committee of the whole House’ rather than by a smaller group of MPs. This means that one of the Deputy Speakers (the Chairman of Ways and Means, currently Rt Hon Lindsay Hoyle MP) will be in the Chair and responsible for decisions about ‘selection’ and grouping of amendments.
At report stage, if there is one – and there won’t be if the bill is sent to a committee of the whole House and emerges without amendments – the Speaker will be responsible. In both cases, they will be advised by parliamentary officials.
In the Lords, there are far fewer procedural rules about amendments, although they still have to be relevant to the legislation. Each amendment is called and decided in turn (according to where it falls in the bill). The only exception is if an amendment has been pre-empted by another previously agreed by the House of Lords.
How quickly could the bill go through?
In principle, legislation can be passed in as little as a single day, but only subject to Parliament’s consent. In the Commons, this consent must be secured by the House agreeing a Programme Motion. In the Lords there is no programming. In both Houses, the Government will have to persuade members that the timetable for scrutiny they are proposing is reasonable.