What is a Presentation Bill in the House of Commons?

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What is a Presentation Bill?

13 Dec 2019

Yvette Cooper MP debating her Presentation Bill, the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.5) Bill). (©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor)

Any MP is permitted under Standing Order No. 57 to introduce a bill of his or her choice, having given prior notice to the Public Bill Office. Presentation Bills can be formally 'presented' at any sitting, but only once all the Ballot Bills have been presented.

Last updated: 29 July 2025 The MP presenting the bill does not give a speech and there is no debate on the proposals when the bill is introduced. There is no requirement for Presentation Bills to be printed - and they often are not - but they will not progress beyond Second Reading unless they are printed.

Once a Presentation Bill is introduced, the MP introducing it names a day for its Second Reading. Since it is a Private Members' Bill, Presentation Bills can only complete their stages during Friday sittings. However, because they cannot be introduced until all 20 Ballot Bills are introduced, they usually fall lower down on the Order Paper than the Ballot Bills, making it harder for Presentation Bills to make progress through their Commons stages.

Like all Private Members' Bills, Presentation Bills are often used to address discrete, non-controversial policy issues and to resolve anomalies in the law. They can also be a useful means to keep an issue before the House that has perhaps been introduced previously under a different PMB procedure. However, with no speech or debate attached to them, they are less useful to Members than Ballot Bills or Ten Minute Rule Bills.

Presentation Bills rarely become law, although recent exceptions have been the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 (formerly the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.5) Bill) sponsored by Yvette Cooper MP and Lord Rooker; and the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 (formerly the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.6) Bill) sponsored by Hilary Benn MP and again by Lord Rooker in the House of Lords. Both Bills were secured after MPs controversially seized control of the Order Paper from the government as part of a legislative strategy to avoid (or delay) a 'no-deal' exit from the European Union in the absence of the parliamentary support needed to ratify the draft Withdrawal Agreement.

Cite this

Hansard Society (2022), Guide to Private Members' Bills, (Hansard Society: London)

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