Not all bills are equal: the types of bills in Parliament explained

Alfie Seymour

Every session of Parliament sees hundreds of bills introduced into the Commons. 

Viewed from the outside, they can appear broadly similar, but the type of bill being proposed, and how it is introduced, determines almost everything about its chances of becoming law. For any organisation seeking to influence or track legislation, understanding these distinctions is essential.

With the Commons Private Members' Bill ballot taking place on Thursday and the Lords PMB ballot last Friday, PoliMonitor sets out a guide to the different types of bills in Parliament, how they work, and what they mean for legislation that could affect your organisation.

Types of Bills: 

Public Bills:

Public bills refer to legislation which will apply to the whole of the UK or one of its constituent parts. They take on two types: Government Bills and Private Members’ Bills, which reflect how they are introduced to Parliament.  

Government Bills: 

Government Bills refer to the legislation which is introduced by the Government and its Ministers. At the start of each session of Parliament, the Government will set out their legislative programme through the King’s Speech, highlighting to MPs what they intend to achieve during the session. The agenda can be set by the Government itself, though departments can also suggest legislation they would like to see passed by suggesting it to the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee; they will pass on a recommendation to the Cabinet, who will then organise the Government’s legislative programme.

Government Bills are introduced through their First Reading, where the title of the bill is simply read out with no debate taking place. Government Bills are by far the most likely to reach Royal Assent; they have guaranteed parliamentary time, ministerial support, and the full whipping operation behind them. This is where the highest-stakes legislative risk and opportunity sits.

Private Members' Bills:

MPs and Lords who are not part of the Government can table legislation through Private Members' Bills (PMBs). The vast majority never become Acts of Parliament. Successive governments have tightened their control of parliamentary time, making it harder than ever for backbench legislation to pass without government support. But it does still happen, and when it does, it can move quickly. In the 2024-2026 session, eight such bills were passed into law. 

Ballot Bills

The best way for MPs to succeed in their bills being passed is by submitting them to The Ballot, which is drawn on the second sitting on Thursday of a parliamentary session. 20 bills are selected from the ballot, and thirteen Fridays are allocated for debating them during a session. All bills in the ballot are guaranteed a First Reading; however, not all of them will receive debate time. The bills are assigned a number randomly and announced in reverse chronological order, so the MP who has their bill called last gets the first choice of a date for a Second Reading, which secures a debate for their bill. Typically, the first seven are the most likely to get a Second Reading. This makes the top seven ballot positions among the most coveted in the backbench calendar. From the most recent ballot, eight of the twenty Ballot Bills moved past Second Reading. Seven received Royal Assent; the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, while passed by the Commons, did not complete its Lords passage before the session ended. 

Crucially, MPs don’t need to announce what measures their bill will contain until after the ballot process. This means that once the numbers have been drawn, there is a clear window where MPs need to make a decision on how they will use their position at the top of the ballot. 

Ten Minute Rule Bills

PMBs can also be introduced through the Ten Minute Rule, which allows MPs the chance to voice their opinions in a short speech, which can then be challenged by an opposing MP. After the discussion, MPs will vote on whether to move the bill forward. Ten Minute Rule bills function similarly to Early Day Motions, in that their primary function is more to draw attention to a particular issue and assess support from other MPs, rather than pass the legislation in question, as they often fail due to a lack of support from the Government, which puts them low on the priority list of bills that need time for debate. The last PMB presented through the Ten Minute Rule to receive Royal Assent was The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) (Amendment) Act 2019. These Ten Minute Rule Bills can be an early signal of backbench appetite and a useful gauge of where political pressure may be building. 

Presentation Bills

The final way MPs can present a bill is by giving notice that they will present a bill before Parliament on the Order Paper. In this situation, the MP may only read aloud the title of the bill, and cannot speak in support of it. Bills cannot be presented until after the drawing of The Ballot, to ensure that the bills within the Ballot get priority for heavily limited debate time. In the last session, two bills reached Royal Assent through this route: the Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill and the Dogs (Protections of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill. 

Most prolific in this method is Sir Christopher Chope, who presented 31 PMBs over the course of the last session. He is the only MP to use this approach of tabling large volumes of bills in a single session. He has previously objected to a range of PMBs on the floors of the House, including on issues with cross-party support, drawing criticism from other backbenchers. 

The House of Lords

The House of Lords has its own separate ballot for PMBs, which takes place shortly after Parliament opens. 25 bills are selected, with the draw order determining when they receive their First Reading. However, Lords PMBs face an additional hurdle; even if passed by the Lords, they require Commons time to progress, which the government controls. No Lords PMB reached Royal Assent in the last session. They are nonetheless worth monitoring as indicators of Lords priorities and potential pressure on the government to act. 

The Lords ballot took place last week. The first two bills selected, which will be introduced on 1st June, were the Lobbying Transparency (In-house Lobbyists) Bill and the Nature’s Rights Bill. You can find the full list of bills drawn here. 

Private Bills

Private bills, as they are used today, are typically used to create public acts which grant both local and national authorities permission to embark on infrastructure projects for the public good. They are introduced by organisations or individuals who are seeking the ability to act in ways they wouldn't be able to under the law. They can be argued against by those in the public who will be directly affected by them during the petitioning period. These petitions can result in people being called during the committee stage to provide evidence, which can help contribute to changes in the bill. Once introduced, the process they go through is much the same as a public bill, however the bill’s proponents must comply with the Private Business Standing Orders. These bills are much rarer, with just three being proposed in the last session of Parliament. The most notable current example is the City of London (Markets) Bill, proposed by the City of London Corporation, which would allow for the closure of Billingsgate Market. The petitioning process is one of the few formal mechanisms through which affected parties can directly influence the passage of legislation.  

Hybrid Bills

The final type of bill is a Hybrid bill. These refer to laws that affect the general public but will impact certain individuals more. They are typically introduced by the Government and are determined to be Hybrid bills by Parliament’s Public Bill Offices, after which the rules set out in the Private Business Standing Orders apply. Hybrid bills also face the same petition period as private bills. Their complexity means they can often face a long approval process - the first HS2 Bill took four years to pass. Hybrid Bills are rare but high-impact, and their long approval timelines mean early monitoring and engagement is essential. 

Understanding the type of bill being proposed and the route it is taking through Parliament is the foundation of effective legislative monitoring. At PoliMonitor, we track bills across all categories from the King’s Speech to the ballot. 

Image by Mdbeckwith via Wikimedia Commons