Step-by-step:
These steps are for you as an MP rather than your staff. You must present the bill yourself. Another MP can’t present it on your behalf. You need to apply for a Presentation Bill, before you can present your bill in the Chamber.
Bills are presented after Question Time and any urgent questions or oral statements on Monday to Thursday, or at the start of the day on Friday.
- You should stand behind the Speaker’s Chair (with the dummy bill which you will have been emailed by the Public Bill Office), on the Speaker’s right-hand side.
- The Speaker will call your name.
- You walk to the table in front of the Speaker and hand the dummy bill to the Clerk.
- The Clerk will read the short title of the bill.
- The Speaker will ask “Second reading, what day?” You name the day you have chosen. The Public Bill Office can help you choose a day from the list of available sitting Fridays.
- Once you have presented the bill, it will be scheduled for its second reading on the date you have given. It will be placed after any bills already listed on the Order Paper for that day, so the chances of it being debated are small.
You can watch a video of a Presentation Bill being presented in the Chamber: