Amendments in practice: Working with government to change the law
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Session from the NCVO Campaigning Conference 2018, presented by Chris Walker, NCVO's parliamentary lead
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Amendments in practice: Working with government to change the law
- 2. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE? Are you really trying to change the law, or are you more concerned with changing government policy?
- 3. CHANGING LEGISLATION IS MESSY Legislation on Instagram vs Legislation in real life
- 4. YOUR AMENDMENTS WILL RARELY PASS UNCHANGED • Rare for government to accept an amendment wholesale • Even rarer to win a Commons vote on an amendment • If they accept your argument, they will normally take away and present their own solution as a government amendment
- 5. WINNING THE ARGUMENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WINNING THE VOTE (MOSTLY) • Because government will want to do in their own way, key thing is to persuade them • Most successful amendments are in the Lords, so government can normally overturn if they don’t accept your argument • BUT if you can win over enough government backbenchers you should get concessions
- 6. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CHANGE THE LAW…
- 7. A QUICK WORD ON TACTICS • Who pushes your amendments matters a lot – government backbenchers much better than opposition frontbench • In the Lords, don’t forget crossbenchers and bishops
- 8. PROBING AMENDMENTS • Rather than seriously attempting to amend the law, parliamentarians (especially peers) will often table probing amendments • Probing amendments allow parliamentarians to raise issues and spur the government into action
- 9. COMMON PROBING AMENDMENTS 1. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
- 10. COMMON PROBING AMENDMENTS 2. EXCLUDE CLAUSE/SUB-CLAUSE
- 11. COMMON PROBING AMENDMENTS 3. REVIEWS
- 12. COMMON PROBING AMENDMENTS 4. TIME LIMITS/SUNSET CLAUSES
- 13. COMMON PROBING AMENDMENTS 5. EXTENDING EXISTING PROVISIONS
- 14. DRAFTING AMENDMENTS Working in tables, suggest approaches for the scenario given, and start to draft amendments
- 15. THANK YOU Chris Walker, Senior External Relations Officer, NCVO chris.walker@ncvo.org.uk @_c_walker 15
Editor's Notes
- Knowing what is you want to change is important – sometimes what you want will require a change in the law, but you can also use the legislative process to encourage government to make non-legislative changes – so important to be clear about what would potentially achieve what you’re setting out to do (will often be multiple options)
- This should go alongside your engagement with government
- So most of the time, amendments are about advancing arguments rather than getting the law right, and we’ll come on to some of the ways to do that – but quick note, if you do want an amendment that works legally, probably a good idea to get professional legal and drafting advice – will harm your argument if your amendment is legally deficient, and may not achieve what you want if it is successful Remember if you are a small charity, there are some lawyers who will offer pro bono advice in some circumstances – though it might be hard to find someone with specific expertise in parliamentary drafting
- NCS Bill
- Remember to talk about: Certificate in campaigning Our other training – expecting to put on new courses next year Consultancy