Oh how times have changed. Half a century ago, legislative change initiated by Private Members’ Bills had a profound impact across British society, such as, for example: the Abortion Act 1967, the Sexual Offences Act 1967, the Adoption Act 1964 and the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965. Today paints a very different picture.
In mid-June 2016 the Government issued a lukewarm response to the House of Commons Procedure Committee’s report on problems with the present procedures for Private Members’ Bills. Committee Chair, Charles Walker MP, described the Government response as deeply disappointing, adding that “It utterly fails to engage with the main message of the Procedure Committee’s report on Private Members’ Bills: namely that present procedures are misleading to the general public and are too easily gamed to prevent genuine legislative proposals from proceeding.”
