Your amendment will be given a number (according to the order in which it was tabled, so if it’s the first amendment to be tabled it will be number 1.) The Chair selects which amendments are eligible for debate. The Chair might not select an amendment if it:
- was late
- doesn’t make sense and/or would make a nonsense of all or part of the bill (sometimes called wrecking the bill)
- has been tabled to the wrong bit of the bill
- is vague
- is outside the scope (the subject matter) of the bill, or the clause or schedule
- would involve spending money that has not been authorised by a money resolution
- reopens an issue that has already been covered in depth
The Public Bill Office will let you know when you submit your amendment if it’s unlikely to be selected.
The Chair can also group similar amendments together, so the debate is not repetitive.
For a public bill committee, selection and grouping will be carried out by the MPs from the Panel of Chairs who’ve been chosen to chair the committee. For a Committee of the whole House, the Chairman of Ways and Means (the principal Deputy Speaker) will carry out the selection and grouping. For report stage, the Speaker will carry out the selection and grouping.
Selection and grouping is the Chair’s decision. You should not question it during the debate.