Michael Zander considers the extremely controversial EU (Withdrawal) (No 5) Bill
- Many argued that MPs taking control of the legislative process set a dangerous precedent; but is it what the exceptional circumstances of Brexit demanded?
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019, which started as the European Union (Withdrawal) (No 5) Bill, will surely figure in the next edition of Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice . The Bill was rushed through all its parliamentary stages. Though very unusual, that has happened before. But what was unprecedented was to have a Private Members Bill running to a timetable set by backbenchers that reached the statute book despite the opposition of the government.
No such thing has ever occurred in the more than 100 years since 1902 when the House of Commons Standing Order giving precedence to government business was first established. The House of Lords Constitution Committee’s 2009 report on fast-track legislation did not even mention the possibility that it might be the work of backbenchers opposed by government; presumably that never occurred to the
