Lords amendments disagreed to, or amended, by the Commons

30.15Several alternatives are open to the Commons, when it is proposed not to agree to the exact propositions embodied in amendments which have been made by the Lords.

  1. Disagreement. The Commons may simply disagree with the amendment, either by agreeing to the question ‘That this House disagrees with the Lords in the said amendment’, or by negativing the question, ‘That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment’.
  2. Amendment and agreement. The Commons may amend the Lords amendment:
    1. by leaving out words in the amendment;1
    2. by leaving out words in the amendment and inserting or adding words instead;2 or
    3. by inserting words in3 or adding words to the amendment.4
    Notice is customarily given of amendments proposed to be moved to Lords amendments. The Speaker may nonetheless select manuscript amendments.5 The Speaker's powers of selection extend to amendments to Lords amendments (and to consequential amendments to the bill and to amendments in lieu of Lords amendments) but not, of course, to Lords amendments themselves.6 The Speaker will ordinarily make the selection known in advance in the same way as at the report stage (see para 28.102 ). Any amendments to a Lords amendment which have been selected will be called in sequence when the Lords amendment concerned is reached, and before the question is proposed for agreeing (or disagreeing) to the Lords amendment. Once that question has been proposed no amendment (or further amendment) may be moved to the Lords amendment concerned.7
  3. Agreement with consequential amendment or amendment instead. While agreeing to the amendment, the Commons may make consequential amendments to the bill;8 or, where the Lords amendment proposes to leave out words of the bill, amendments may be made to the bill instead9 of the words left out.10 Any consequential amendment to the bill which has been selected will be called immediately after agreement with the Lords amendment to which it is consequential even though it is out of sequence with the subsequent amendments.11 Consequential amendments which involve the insertion of new clauses are treated as amendments. The long title of a bill can be amended to make it conform with the Lords amendments,12 and the short title of a bill may be changed in consequence of the House agreeing to Lords amendments13 (see also para 28.123 ).
  4. Disagreement with amendment in lieu or amendment to words so restored. While disagreeing to the amendment, the Commons may make amendments to the bill in lieu of the Lords amendment (or amendments) to which they have disagreed;14 or, where the Lords amendment proposes to leave out words or to leave out words and insert other words,15 amendments may be made to the words so restored to the bill.16 In both these cases consequential amendments may also be made to the bill. Any amendment in lieu, including a new clause, is offered at a specific point in the text of the bill, and the practice at earlier stages in the Commons of leaving the position of new clauses to be settled by the Member in charge of the bill is not followed during the consideration of Lords amendments.
  5. A Lords amendment may be divided into two or more parts so that separate decisions can be taken. Thus, for example, both parts of a Lords amendment may be agreed to,17 part of it may be agreed to and part disagreed to,18 two or more parts may be disagreed to,19 or one part may be agreed to and the other amended and agreed to.20
  6. A Lords amendment may be agreed to, but the words proposed to be inserted may be transferred to another place in the bill.21

Footnotes

  1. 1. For example, CJ (1984–85) 544; Supplement to the Votes and Proceedings, 12 June 2018, p 7.
  2. 2. For example, CJ (1993–94) 397; Votes and Proceedings, 20 June 2018.
  3. 3. For example, CJ (1985–86) 596; ibid (1990–91) 485; ibid (1995–96) 491.
  4. 4. For example, CJ (1984–85) 543.
  5. 5. HC Deb (23 April 2013) 561, c 788. See also Announcement in the Commons Order Paper for 22 April 2014 for special arrangements made for Members to table manuscript amendments relating to Lords amendments on the morning of the day on which those amendments were to be considered.
  6. 6. HC Deb (1952–53) 514, cc 821–22; ibid (1964–65) 714, c 181; ibid (1967–68) 770, cc 740, 742.
  7. 7. Parl Deb (1907) 181, c 312; HC Deb (1918) 101, c 2171.
  8. 8. For example, CJ (1985–86) 531.
  9. 9. The word ‘instead’ is used in these relatively unusual circumstances, the words ‘in lieu’ being used in the case of disagreement.
  10. 10. CJ (1919) 246; ibid (1919–20) 381; ibid (1967–68) 340; ibid (2001–02) 260.
  11. 11. CJ (1934–35) 324; ibid (1947–48) 359; ibid (1956–57) 253; ibid (1967–68) 340.
  12. 12. For example, CJ (1985–86) 593, 604.
  13. 13. CJ (1981–82) 458.
  14. 14. For example, CJ (1985–86) 529, 530; ibid (1995–96) 491; ibid (2001–02) 815–16 (in this case the amendment in lieu was made to a clause proposed by the Lords to which the Commons had agreed at an earlier stage; ibid (2006–07) 514). For examples of amendments made to a bill by the Commons in lieu of a number of scattered Lords amendments, see CJ (1992–93) 764; ibid (2001–02) 797; Votes and Proceedings, 26 April 2017.
  15. 15. For example, CJ (1984–85) 543.
  16. 16. CJ (1881) 445, 448, 449, 452, 453; ibid (1917–18) 310; ibid (1920) 509, 512, 513; ibid (1930–31) 382, 383; ibid (1966–67) 591; ibid (1972–73) 482; ibid (2005–06) 840.
  17. 17. CJ (1937–38) 346; ibid (1966–67) 522, 541.
  18. 18. CJ (1930–31) 384; ibid (1937–38) 346.
  19. 19. CJ (1930–31) 382.
  20. 20. CJ (1920) 512, 514.
  21. 21. CJ (1890–91) 510; ibid (1937–38) 343.