Government Bill

[ashville1]

Who decides how many lines a government bill should have i.e. 3 line whip and how does a government bill originate in the first place?

[sylvday]

The leaders of each parliamentary political party, and in particular the whips, decide how much pressure they need to put on their MPs to get them to support or oppose a Bill (or any other Motion going to a vote). Thus, if the current Labour Government introduced a Bill which it thought would be unpopular with rank and file Labour MPs, then it might put a three-line whip on it, to try to ensure that the Bill is voted through. Any Labour MP voting against the Bill might then be disciplined. Government Bills are drafted by civil servants, under instruction by Ministers, in the particujlar department concerned. So a Bill on pensions would originally be drafted in the Ministry for Work & Pensions; one on roads in the Department for Transport; and so on. But of course other departments might have an interest, and be consulted; and like all Government business the Prime Minister and all his Cabinet are ultimately responsible, under the UK principle of collective responsibility.

[sddsddean]

It is called a 3 line whip, because the 'item' is underlined 3 times by the Chief Whip in his copy of the Order of Proceedings. If it is a less important bill (or whatever) it can be a 1 or 2 line whip, indicating it is less important.

[bernardo]

The number of lines applies to a vote in Parliament, not to a bill