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HOC Rules and Guidelines
From The Student RoomTSR Wiki > Life > Debating > TSR Model House of Commons > HOC Rules and Guidelines
Introduction to the HOCThe TSR Commons is a democratically elected chamber (forum on TSR) and is made up of 50 MP's selected by their Parties and Party leaders. Seats have been allocated following a TSR-wide 'General Election' which was conducted around the principle of political Parties (and some Independent candidates). TSR MPs and other participants have the ability to represent a Region of the UK in the Commons (chosen by them) and they are encouraged to introduce issues to Parliament that concern people in their constituency in real life. Additionally, MPs for the 3 main Parties take a Cabinet/Shadow Cabinet position, such as Education, and it is their responsibility to introduce Bills concerning their Department to the Commons, and debate it with other MPs. Getting InvolvedThe first thing that you must do, is join a political Party. Follow this link, or go to User CP -> Group Memberships. (If you get no response from the Group leader within 7 days then PM the Speaker). Independents are a feature of the TSR Commons, but their only access route is gaining the required share of the Vote in a TSR General Election, which are held every six months. Results of past elections can be seen in this article. Once you have joined a Party, you will automatically gain access to the Party's own forum (otherwise hidden) and you should talk to other Party members and discuss issues with them. You should also contact your leader for information on how you can get involved in the Parties operations. Due to past occurrences within the Commons, Party Leaders have the right to suspicious as to your authenticity, hence don't become offended if they question you on this nature. It is sometimes recommend that Party Leaders request an IP check from the forum's Administrative team for any prospective party members who arouse your suspicion. There are a number of parties that you can join. Bellow is a brief summary of what each party stands for. The Conservative PartyNone Submitted The Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few. Where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe. And where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect. The Liberal DemocratsNone Submitted The Libertarian PartyA Libertarian is, in its simplest form, somebody who believes in the supremacy of the individual over both forced collectivisation and the state. What does this mean in the real world? That people should be free to do as they wish, free from persecution so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. This, of course, means they support a free market economy with only the loosest regulations, to ensure there is no overwhelming monopoly – after all, the strength of capitalist economies is the efficiency garnered through competition. Similarly, the state provides only services which could not be realistically provided by a private corporation, such as national defence, law enforcement and water supplies (the immense amount of piping needed makes it implausible to be run by anything other than one company – and while the state can be changed with elections, companies cannot). The state would provide only the most basic of welfare systems. Monster Raving Loony PartyThe Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a registered political party in the UK, and was created by its spiritual leader, Screaming Lord Sutch as a way of giving British politics a bit of extra life, a bit of extra colour, and, most importantly, a bit of a kick up the backside. As you will see if you read our 2525 manicfesto, we are the only party that truly prepares for the future, and as such, we are the natural party of government for the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. “Is there any point to the loony party?” we hear you ask. Well we're not completely sure, we'll send someone to check whether or not it's been sharpened recently. You can find the official MRLP manicfesto here, examples of policies originally proposed by the MRLP subsequently stolen by other parties here and a detailed history of the party here. The Socialist PartyNone submitted Proposing a BillAll Bills should be sent to The Speaker by PM once they are finalised and ready for the first reading. A Private Members Bill must be submitted by the member who has created and wants to pass the Bill, and a Bill submitted on behalf of the Party must come from the Party leader (or Deputy).
Format of the BillThe format will be similar to those proposed in the real House of Commons. It must be stressed, though, that this is flexible , and as long as you roughly follow the simple guidelines there will be no problem processing it. Quite simply, Bills should be submitted as follows: State first whether the Bill is a Private Members Bill, or whether it is a Bill being proposed by the Party (if the latter is the case then it must be submitted by the Party leader or Deputy Leader) Short Title Just to give the general gist of the Bill, and make it easy to pay reference to, reduce to full title (below) to something less wordy. Make it short and simple. Example: Education Reform Bill 2006 Title of the bill Brief (but full) description of the Bill, preferably in one sentence. Expand slightly on the short title, and make sure the Title gets across briefly the nature of the Bill. Example: A Bill that makes the studying of History, compulsory in all state schools up to and including Key Stage Four. Enacting words All Bills should start with the enacting words as follows: "BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's [King's] most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-" Content Do this however you like, there is no word limit, and you may bullet-list, paragraph, do whatever you like. Just make it simple and in plain English. No multi-coloured text, different sizes or fonts will be carried over, though. Bill ProcedureUp to, and no more than one Bill every 24 hours will go to First Reading, if there is a backlog then they will have to wait until prior Bills have been processed. A Bill will be placed into the Hansard and after a minimum of 1 day it will go to First reading. (A8) ReadingsThe Bill can undergo up to three Readings of varying length. After each reading the Party or Individual (in case of private members bills) responsible for submitting the bill may table any amendments which will then go to a further reading. This can occur following the lower limit of reading period has passed. After this period the Person/Party can also choose to take the bill to vote. If no amendments are tabled by the end of the reading period defined below then it will automatically be taken to vote.
The three readings will take place in the House of Commons forum, allowing all party members to debate the tabled bill. A Cessation of Readings can be requested by the party who submitted a bill following the first reading of a bill which is seen to be in such an undesirable form that it cannot be sufficiently amended during the normal process. The Cessation will allow a period of One Week, after which the newly formatted bill will go to Second Reading. (A6) VotingVoting: 4 Days This will be conducted in a specific thread in the voting floor, which will restrict Voting and any further discussions to the Voting MPs (VMPs). VMPs will be given the option of voting for the bill to be passed into law (aye), against it (no), or to abstain. This makes the overall length of time from the Bill being PMed to The Speaker, to being passed by the House 6-21 days (The latter if there has been additional readings and full amount of extra time being used), though as I have said above, if there is other Bills in the queue then it will take longer for it to get to First Reading. A majority vote is required for a Bill to be enacted, and it will set a precedent for future Bills in the Commons to follow, so it is important that the Authors think carefully about the possible consequences it could have on future legislation. Please note that MPs can also arrange for a proxy MP to be put in their place if they expect to be absent from the Commons for a set amount of time. To do this, the Party leader or deputy leader must inform the speaker of the appointment of a proxy at least 4 days in advance, and this position can be maintained for a maximum of 14 days. Procedural BillsThese are bills that deal with running of the HoC. They follow exactly the same rules as the main bills with two differences:
Elections1) There will be 50 MP’s which will divided between the parties according to the PR system. The number of MP’s will be assessed again at the end of this term of governance. 2) Once an election is called any interested party or individual has to make their intention to stand clear before a set date. This would be done by sending a PM to the speaker. If more than 16 parties or individuals stand then priority will be given to the original parties who stood in the previous elections, any new candidates will be asked to provide at least two people who supports them (similar to the seconding system). 3) If an MP wants to leave a party to join another they may do so providing that they are only a member of one party at a time. They however can not take their seat with them it remains with the party and the party must find a new MP. If an independent MP chooses to join a Party, they may take their seat with them, and will therefore bolster that party's number of seats. (A7) 4) In a coalition the number of seats held by each party will not change. 5) Unsolicited campaigning PM’s cannot be sent to members who are not a member of the same party as the sender. 6) A term in government should last a maximum of 6 months unless a motion is passed through the House of Commons to extend the term by up to 2 months in exceptional circumstances. The Prime minister can call an election at any point in the 6 month period however if this has not been done within 6 months and an extension has not been passed the speaker will call an election. If a vote of no confidence is passed with more that 50% of the vote an election will be called. 7) Manifestos are advised and should be submitted by the deadline. However they are not compulsory. Manifestos should be made of a 250 word statement (maximum) and a slogan. These statements will be put on the election threads in general chat. Secondary statements will not be allowed. 8) Voting should last for 14 days. 9) To be eligible to vote people must have at least 200 posts and must have been a member for at least three months. 10) Parliament should restart 1 week after the results of the election are announced. 11) If a General Election is held in the United Kingdom in real life, a corresponding election will automatically be held for the TSR Parliament, even if a full term has not been served since the last election. A required TSR election may be delayed to coincide with a real life election. The Speaker1) Should be elected by a majority vote in the House of Commons 2) As the Speaker is a moderating position the election of any member can be vetoed by the moderators. 3) The speaker can be removed by a vote of no confidence with a result of over 50%. The results of such a poll should remain anonymous. DisclaimerThe rules above do not make up the full rules of the HoC. Any action carreid out in the House in the past that has not be written down, agreed up on, or voted in at a date after the action was caried out should be considered a rule set by precedent and should be considered to be in forced until an ammended rule exactly covering that area/issue is written down, agreed up on or voted in. Other Links
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