Legislative powers

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This subtopic contains a range of materials on the UK legislative process, focussing on legislation made at Westminster. Responsibility for legislation drafting falls on:

  1. •

    Parliamentary counsel for primary legislation

  2. •

    lawyers in the Government Legal Department for secondary legislation

In each case, drafting lawyers are instructed by civil servants to deliver the policy decided by ministers.

For details of the principle types of primary and secondary legislation, see Practice Note: Components of an Act—How to find legislation: principal types of legislation.

The process for making a new law begins with consultation of relevant groups that may be affected in the form of Green Papers, White Papers, and draft Bills. For more information on consultation, see Practice Note: Consultation—requirement and process. See also: Consultation—checklist.

Primary legislation

A Bill is a proposal for a new law or for a change to an existing law, presented for debate before Parliament. Instructions for new Bills are prepared by policy makers and lawyers in government departments for Parliamentary counsel. A list of Bills currently before Parliament is available on the UK Parliament website.

A Bill may start in

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