Private Members' bills

As there is limited time available for the consideration of private members’ bills, generally only those with government or cross-party support are successful. For example, in the 2024-26 parliamentary session 295 private members’ bills were introduced, but only 8 of these received Royal Assent and became law. 

Find more examples in the Commons Library Paper: Successful Private Members’ Bills since 1983.

Although only a small minority of private members' bills become law, they can affect legislation indirectly by creating publicity around an issue.  

View a list of private members’ bills currently before Parliament . 

Introducing private members' bills in the House of Commons

To introduce a bill in the House of Commons an MP needs to provide its short title (by which it is known) and its long title (which describes briefly what it does).  

The complete text of the bill is not necessary when a bill is being introduced, and many private members' bills are never published in full. However, the MP who introduced the bill must provide the text before the bill can receive a second reading.

An MP can introduce a private members' bill in the House of Commons in one of three ways: the ballot, the ten-minute rule and presentation.  

The ballot 

Ballot bills have the best chance of becoming law, as they get priority for the limited amount of debating time available. The names of MPs applying for a bill are drawn in a ballot, held on the second sitting Thursday of a parliamentary session, unless otherwise agreed. The first seven ballot bills are most likely to get a day's debate.

The first reading (formal presentation without debate) of ballot bills takes place on the fifth sitting Wednesday of a parliamentary session. 

The ballot draw for the 2026-27 parliamentary session took place on Thursday 21 May 2026 and is available to watch online on Parliament TV.

Watch Parliament TV: House of Commons: Private Members bills' ballot

To ensure that ballot bills take precedence at the start of a new session, MPs may not apply to bring in a bill in any other way until after the ballot bills have been presented to the House. This restriction does not apply to government bills. 

The 20 MPs drawn in the 2026-27 ballot introduced their bills to the Commons on Wednesday 17 June 2026.

Ten-minute rule  

Ten-minute rule motions are often an opportunity for MPs to voice an opinion on a subject or aspect of existing legislation, rather than a serious attempt to get a bill passed. 

An MP makes a speech of no more than ten minutes outlining their position, which another MP may oppose in a similar short statement. It is a good opportunity to raise the profile of an issue and to see whether it has support among other MPs.

Presentation

MPs make speeches of no more than ten minutes outlining their position, which another MP may oppose in a similar short statement. It is a good opportunity to raise the profile of an issue and to see whether it has support among other MPs.

Consideration of private members' bills in the Commons  

Private members' bills have precedence over government business on thirteen Fridays in each session under Standing Order 14 (8). 

On the first seven Fridays allotted to private members' bills, ballot bills have priority. On the remaining six Fridays, bills which have reached their later stages have precedence.  

Sometimes the debate on the first private members bill listed in the Order Paper can last for the whole of the Friday sitting (from 9:30am until 2:30pm). There is not usually time to debate all the bills scheduled for consideration on a particular Friday, and these bills will need to be rescheduled for a subsequent day. 

At 2.30 pm on a Friday a clerk will read out the titles of the remaining bills which are listed on the Order Paper. If any MP shouts “object” when the title of a bill is read, no further progress can be made on it that day and the MP in charge of the bill (or another MP on their behalf) may nominate another date. 

When all thirteen Fridays have passed, MPs may continue to put their private members' bills down for future dates even though there are no sitting Fridays remaining.  Unless additional private members' bill Fridays are allocated by the government at this stage (which has happened on occasion during very long sessions of Parliament) those bills can make no further progress, however.

For the current list of dates of Friday sittings when private members' bills can be debated see: Frequently asked questions: business. 

More detail about private members' bill procedure in the Commons is given in the MPs' Guide to Procedure - Private members' bills. 

Money resolutions  

If a private members' bill requires any spending, a money resolution must be moved by the government for agreement by the House of Commons before the bill (or the provisions giving rise to spending within it) can be considered in committee.  

Public bill committees  

As private members’ bills are not timetabled in the way that government bills are, there is no limit to how long the committee stage can last. However, the MP in charge of the bill can table a sittings motion setting out when the committee should meet. 

The MP is charge of the bill is also responsible for providing the Committee of Selection with a list of names of MPs who would like to be a member of the committee.  

Only one public bill committee on a private members' bill can be active at a time, unless the government supports the creation of another one and tables a motion to this effect.  

By convention, public bill committees considering private members’ bills usually meet on Wednesdays. 

Private members' bills in the Lords  

Private members' bills in the Lords are usually introduced through a ballot held shortly after the State Opening of a new session of Parliament. Members must submit the short and long title of their bill to the Legislation Office to enter the ballot. 25 bills are selected from the ballot. The ballot orders the way in which these bills receive their First Reading in the House but all subsequent legislative debates are scheduled by the Government's Whips Office. Bills not selected in the ballot may be introduced once all ballot bills have been introduced, but members need to re-submit their bill to the Legislation Office. One sitting Friday a month is normally allocated to debating private members' bills. 

If a private member’s bill introduced in the Lords goes through all the required stages as any other public bill, and if an MP supports the bill, it continues in the Commons. Lords private members' bills are treated like other private members' bills, but do not have priority over bills introduced in the Commons. They are therefore unlikely to have much, if any, time devoted to them. 

On the other hand, private members’ bills which have completed all their stages in the Commons are more likely to have the necessary time devoted to them in the Lords to make them law.