Hybrid bills: Parliament’s role in delivering major infrastructure

The government has backed major infrastructure projects as a major part of its growth agenda. One of the options available to the government for gaining consent for such projects is the parliamentary hybrid bill process.

While hybrid bills have the potential to be a powerful tool for some of the government’s infrastructure ambitions, the experience of recent hybrid bills like those for the High Speed Rail 2 railway have demonstrated how poor bill management and procedural inefficiencies can hamper their effectiveness.

This analysis paper sets out how recent hybrid bills have worked, the key issues with the process and makes a series of recommendations for improved handling of such bills alongside reforms to procedure that will help unlock the potential of hybrid bills for consenting future infrastructure projects.