A Money Bill is a public bill which in the opinion of the Speaker of the House of Commons contains only provisions dealing with national taxation, public money or loans. If a bill is certified as a Money Bill by the Speaker, and is passed by the House of Commons, it will become law after one month, with or without the approval of the House of Lords.
A Money Bill is defined in Section 1(2) of the Parliament Act 1911. It is a public bill which in the opinion of the Speaker of the House of Commons contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following:
the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration, or regulation of taxation;
the imposition for the payment of debt or other financial purposes of charges on the Consolidated Fund or the National Loans Fund, or on money provided by Parliament or the variation or repeal of any such charges;
Supply;
the appropriation, receipt, custody, issue or audit of accounts of public money;
the raising or guarantee of any loan or the repayment thereof;
subordinate matters incidental to those subjects or any of them.
For a bill to be certified by the Speaker as a Money Bill, it must have the sole purpose of creating or extending the scope of a charge on public expenditure.
Finance Bills may be certified as Money Bills but not always, because they sometimes include provisions dealing with matters other than those listed above.
The Speaker is advised by officials about the certification of bills as Money Bills. (On a few rare occasions, certification has been done by the Deputy Speaker if the Speaker was unavailable.) Section 1(2) of the 1911 Parliament Act also imposes a ‘duty’ on the Speaker to consult, if practicable, two senior members of the Panel of Chairs.
The Speaker only considers certification when the bill in question has reached the final form in which it will leave the House of Commons. This is because the inclusion of an amendment could have a significant bearing on the certification decision. When MPs have attempted to assess whether an amendment is likely to prevent a bill being certified as a Money Bill, at the bill's committee or report stage, then the committee chair or the Speaker has always declined to give an opinion.
According to Erskine May, once a bill is certified as a Money Bill the Speaker’s decision is "conclusive for all purposes and may not be questioned in a court of law".
Under the terms of the 1911 Parliament Act, a Money Bill can be presented for Royal Assent with or without the agreement of the House of Lords one month after it was sent to the Upper House (providing that the Bill was sent to the Lords at least one month before the end of the parliamentary session). (In contrast, all other public bills passed by the House of Commons may be delayed by the Lords for a minimum period of 13 months, under other provisions in the 1911 Act.)
The House of Lords is not debarred from amending a Money Bill, provided that the amendments are passed within one month, but there is no obligation on the Commons to consider the Lords amendments. In practice, therefore, a Money Bill is rarely considered in committee by the Lords; the legislative stages on the bill are usually (although not always) treated as a formality.
The UK Spending Review outlines how Government funds will be allocated over several years. Unlike the Budget, which raises revenue, the Review decides how it is spent. But how is it approved? What role does Parliament play if it doesn’t vote on the Review itself? This blog explores how the Spending Review works, how it differs from the Budget, and how Parliament holds the Government to account through the Estimates process.
On Friday 13 June, the House of Commons will once again debate the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. Specifically, it will hold a second day of Report Stage, during which the whole House will debate and vote on amendments. This briefing explains the structure of Report Stage, what happened on the first day of Report Stage, how amendments are selected and grouped, on which amendments a decision can still be taken, and the likely sequence of events this Friday, including whether a final vote will take place.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, will deliver a statement on the Spending Review. MPs will resume Report Stage of the assisted dying bill and debate key legislation on football governance, mental health, and planning and infrastructure. Peers and MPs are expected to resolve their standoff over AI and copyright in the Data (Use and Access) Bill. The Commons Defence Committee will hear from the lead reviewers of the Strategic Defence Review, while a Lords Committee will examine the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty issue. The Hansard Society’s Director will give evidence to the Modernisation Committee about access to the House of Commons and its procedures.
In this episode, we explore why ministers keep bypassing Parliament to make major announcements to the media — and whether returning to the Despatch Box might help clarify their message. We unpack the Lords' uphill battle to protect creators’ rights in the Data Use and Access Bill, challenge claims that the Assisted Dying Bill lacks scrutiny, and examine early findings from a Speaker’s Conference on improving security for MPs, as threats and intimidation against politicians continue to rise. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.
Our evidence on treaty scrutiny has been published by the House of Lords International Agreements Committee. Our submission outlines the problems with the existing framework for treaty scrutiny and why legislative and cultural change are needed to improve Parliament's scrutiny role. Our evidence joins calls for a parliamentary consent vote for the most significant agreements, a stronger role for Parliament in shaping negotiating mandates and monitoring progress, and a sifting committee tasked with determining which agreements warrant the greatest scrutiny.
