Meeting of a new Parliament

8.14The principal proceedings which distinguish the meeting of a new Parliament from the opening of any subsequent session are the election of a Speaker, and the taking and subscription of the oath by Members of both Houses.

On the day appointed by royal proclamation for the first meeting of a new Parliament for dispatch of business (see para 8.3 ), the Members of both Houses assemble in their respective chambers.

In the House of Lords, the Leader of the House or another government Minister acquaints the House that, ‘it not being convenient for Her Majesty to be personally present here this day, She has been pleased to issue a Commission under the Great Seal in order to hold this Parliament’. The Lords Commissioners (normally five in number), robed and seated on a bench between the Throne and the Woolsack, then command Black Rod to let the Commons know that ‘the Lords Commissioners desire their immediate attendance in this House, to hear the Commission read’.

In the House of Commons the Members assemble shortly before 2.30 pm and the Member present in the House, not being a Minister of the Crown, who has served for the longest period continuously takes the Clerk's place at the Table (the Clerk sitting on his left).