If you want to record reasons for objecting to the second reading, or more rarely the third reading, of a bill, you can submit a reasoned amendment. A reasoned amendment sets out reasons for rejecting the bill.
A reasoned amendment must
- be within the scope of the bill (what the bill is about)
- be fatal to the bill (in other words, it can’t just raise a series of objections that could be dealt with by submitting amendments at committee stage or report stage)
- be more than simply a direct negation of the whole principle of the bill
If the reasoned amendment is agreed to, the bill can’t make any more progress.
Only one reasoned amendment can be selected and debated at each stage of a bill (although more than one can be tabled and appear on the Order Paper). If several reasoned amendments have been tabled, the Speaker decides which one, if any, to select for debate.