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Model House of Commons Guidance Document
TSR Wiki > Life > Debating > TSR Model House of Commons > Model_House_of_Commons_Guidance_Document
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Contents |
Elections
General Elections
1) The Speaker is responsible for everything surrounding the HoC elections,
2) Manifestos are to be submitted to the speaker by the deadline, any received after this time will be accepted at the Speaker's discretion
3) In a general election a maximum of 16 parties and independents can stand, parties and independents from a previous election will get priority over anyone else. The Speaker again has the discretion to remove people from standing in the general election.
4) Manifestos submitted must be less than 250 words and may not contain videos or audio clips unless created by a member of the party in question. The Speaker will cut the manifesto at the 250 word mark if they go over.
- i) all words typed or spoken within the manifesto will be counted (this excludes the 20 word tagline).
- ii) videos and audio clips will be removed before textual content is until the word limit is met.
5) Manifestos can include up to 2 images.
6) Manifestos are allowed a 20 word tagline.
7) The formal duration of an election will be 21 Days,
- Day- The Prime Minister holds the authority to announce his/her intention to seek a dissolution on a particular date; as long as parliament does not expire in between.
- Day 0 – Election is called by the Prime Minister or the speaker if parliament has expired. A wash up period of seven days remains in place but no new 'threads' will be submitted to the speaker.
- Day 0 – The Speaker will inform parties to submit their manifestos;
- Day 7 – All manifesto’s should have been received by the speaker who shall admit them subject to them meeting the criteria to stand. Who formally declares the previous parliament dissolved and shall remove all MP's from the Division Lobby Forum.
- Day 7 – The Speaker will post a thread containing ALL manifestos in the Model House Of Commons sub-forum and add a secret poll for 7 days with an option for each candidate/party and an option for “Spoilt Ballot”
- Day 14 – Results of the election are declared by the speaker, the speaker will then inform party leaders they have 7 days to form any coalitions
- Day 21 – Details of formed coalitions are formally announced by the speaker who invites the leader of the largest coalition/party that fulfills article 6.1 to form a government and nominate a prime minister for appointment. The speaker invites the leader of the largest party that does not take part in the government and that fulfills article 7.1 to form a shadow ministry.
- Day 21 - The speaker formally declares parliament open and announces details of parliament's expiration date.
8) During elections unsolicited PMs cannot be sent to members of TSR who are not a member of the same party as the sender, this includes campaigning for votes and telling people to go and vote.
9) Independent candidates are allowed to join a party at any point during parliament, in doing so they take their seat with them and bolster the party’s seats. This however will not affect the party in power.
10) If for any reason a 51st seat is required due to the d’Hondt method of calculations then it is permitted.
11) All TSR members with more than 100 posts and 3 months experience may vote.
By Elections
1) The Speaker is responsible for everything surrounding TSR by-elections.
2) Manifestos are to be submitted to the Speaker by the deadline, any received after this time will be accepted at the Speaker’s discretion.
3) The restrictions on manifesto length and content shall be the same as in normal TSR General Elections.
4) Should there be fewer than 5 seats to be assigned, the resulting by-election may only be contested by independents or individuals running under a party banner.
5) Should there be 5 or more seats to be assigned, the criteria for normal TSR General Elections applies.
6) MPs are not eligible to stand.
7) An individual running under a party banner may win a maximum of 1 seat.
8) Should the condition in 4) be true:
- 8a) Each party may only have 1 candidate running running under their banner
- 8b) If an equal number or fewer candidates stand than seats to be assigned, the by-election shall be cancelled.
- 8c) The poll shall be a multiple choice vote, unless there is only 1 seat to be assigned.
9) Individuals who run under party banners will be identified as such and any seat won by them is held by the party.
10) Any person wishing to stand as an independent must resign from their former party.
11) All TSR members with more than 100 posts and 3 months experience may vote.
12) Should the condition in 4) be true, the candidates with the highest number of votes will be assigned a seat until they are all filled. Otherwise, the d'Hondt method shall be used to calculate seats. If an extra seat is required, it is permitted.
13) The results shall not affect who is in Government or Opposition.
14) The duration of an election shall be 14 days.
- Day 0 – Election is announced by The Speaker.
- Day 0 - The Speaker will inform interested candidates/parties to submit their manifestos
- Day 7 – All manifestos should have been received by The Speaker.
- Day 7 - The Speaker will post the manifestos in a thread in the Model House of Commons forum, add a secret 7 day poll with the option of “Spoilt Ballot” and send a message out to MPs informing them of the vote.
- Day 14 – The election closes and seats are assigned.
Speaker Elections
1) A Speaker election can take place at any time.
2) It can be conducted by the outgoing Speaker, a Deputy Speaker or any member of the moderation/administration team.
3) The election process for a Speaker should last no more than 17 days.
- Day 0 – Returning officer announces the election and asks for manifestos to be submitted to them.
- Day 7 – Returning officer will post the candidates who wish to run in the election for speaker along with manifestos.
- Day 7 – Candidates for the position are questioned by MPs and members of the House of Commons
- Day 10 – The returning officer will open a secret poll (for MPs only in the Division Lobby) with the candidates’ names and the option for Re-Open Nominations.
- Day 14 – Poll closes. If a candidate has gained more than 50% of the vote, they are elected. If not, the two candidates with the most votes, plus ties, are put into a second three day ballot with no R.O.N. option.
- Day 17 - If a runoff election was needed, results of the election are announced and the candidate with the most votes is elected.
4) The candidate with the highest number of votes will be elected as the new Speaker.
5) In the event there is a draw, All candidates will be outlined to the administration team and they will pick the next Speaker.
6) In the event no Speaker is elected due to Re-Open Nominations being elected a new election process will begin.
7) Speaker manifestos must be no more than 250 words on why they should be Speaker and what they plan to do with the house.
Deputy Speaker Elections
1) A Deputy Speaker election will occur when a Deputy Speaker is required.
2) The Speaker will oversee the election
3) In extreme cases the moderation/administration team can appoint a Deputy Speaker
4) The Deputy Speaker election stall follow this timeline:
- Day 0 – Current speaker announces their need for a Deputy Speaker. They will then ask for interested people to send them a manifesto of no more than 100 words.
- Day 4 – Current Speaker will Post the candidates who wish to stand as Deputy Speaker
- Day 4 – The Speaker will open a Secret Poll (for MPs only in the Division Lobby) with the candidates names and the option for Re-Open Nominations.
- Day 8 – Results of the Speaker election are announced.
5) The Deputy Speaker will have to be approved by the administration team
6) In the event there is a draw, the Speaker will make the decision on who the Deputy shall be.
7) In the event no Deputy is elected another round of election will be held.
8) Deputy Speaker manifestos may be no more than 100 words.
Party Leadership Elections
1) Can be run by: the outgoing Leader, The Speaker or Deputy Leader.
2) Outgoing Leaders and Deputy Leaders may wish to run these how they like.
3) It is suggested the speaker follows the following procedure when running internal elections:
- The Speaker will speak to the Section Leaders and be given control of the party so they have the Mass PM ability.
- The Speaker will PM the party members and ask them to send a max 250 word manifesto stating why they should be party Leader to be submitted to them by a set deadline.
- Once the deadline ends, the speaker will post a thread in the party subforum containing all the manifestos. There will be a 2 – 3 day period for the candidates to be asked questions by their fellow party members.
- Once questioning has ended a poll will be put up containing all the candidates’ names and the RON (re-open nominations) option. This poll will be open for 4 days.
- After the 4 days the results will be announced, the Speaker will have the group rights handed over to the new party Leader.
Other Elections
The party or Speaker shall run any other elections as they see fit, this is entirely at their discretion.
MPs
1) A party may appoint as many users to the MP usergroup as they had won seats in the previous general election; it is the prerogative of each party to choose the users they want as representatives.
2) MPs may be instructed by their Chief Whip to vote in a specific way and they should oblige but do not have to vote as they have free will.
3) MPs can have titles, they can be cabinet positions in the Government or Shadow Cabinet positions if they are in the opposition. All other MPs will have no title unless they are a Party Leader /Deputy Leader/Chief Whip.
4) As an MP you would be expected to attend all bill discussions and voting on bills, Failure to attend 2 consecutive votes or low voting turn out and the Speaker will contact the Party Leader and discuss your position as an MP.
5) Any MP or party leader can have a vote of No confidence called against them at any given point in time by a party members (assuming the VoNC has been seconded) at which point the speaker will offer assistance.
6) If an MP decides to leave a party then their seat is available to be filled by another member of the party.
7) If a independent MP wishes to join a political party any time after a general election they can do so and take their MP seat with them and will automatically bolster a party’s number of seats, though it won’t change who the ‘government is’.
8) An independent MP can leave a political party they have joined and take their seat with them.
9) Any MP holding a seat defecting parties cannot take their seat with them, the seat at all times remains within the party it was assigned.
10) Proxy MPs (stand-in MP) are permitted is an MP is aware they will be away for a period of time. A proxy MP can take their place assuming the speaker is notified with 4 days notice so that the current MP can be removed from the group and the proxy put into place. A proxy MP is instructed how to vote by the full time MP and should obey their wishes.
11) All MPs and proxies are entitled to join the MP group.
12) All MPs are entitled The Honourable.
Procedures
Party Formation
1) If wanting to form a party, someone should put a thread in the main House of Commons forum spelling out their main principles.
2) Interested people should PM the Speaker and proposer.
3) In deciding whether to allow a party to form, the Speaker should be primarily mindful of the support for the party. Precedent sets the hurdle as 10 eligible voters showing support, though the Speaker may want to consider other factors, such as whether those voters are active House of Commons members.
Government
1) The Speaker shall ask the Party Leader of the party or coalition that fulfils the criteria in article 6.1 of the constitution to form a government.
2) The Government shall consist of a Prime Minister, a Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and any number of Cabinet or ministerial positions.
3) The Foreign Secretary shall have sole responsibility for maintaining links with the Model UN and shall represent the Model House of Commons in the Model UN.
Opposition Formation
1) The Speaker shall ask the Party Leader of the party or coalition that fulfils the criteria in article 7.1 of the Constitution to form an opposition.
2) The opposition shall consist of a Leader of the Opposition and any number of Shadow Cabinet or shadow ministerial positions.
Privy Council
1) The Privy Council is made up of all past and present Cabinet ministers, Leaders of the Opposition, Speakers and Deputy Speakers.
2) Privy Counsellors are entitled The Right Honourable.
Party Membership
1) Members are only allowed to be in one party, unless both Party Leaders and the Speaker agree. This is not in the Constitution as parties may wish to share forums while engaged in coalitions.
Bills
1) Acts of Parliament or EU laws passed in real life will apply to the Model House of Commons, so long as they do not contradict bills passed in this House. Legislation passed here always takes precedence over legislation passed in real life. This House is, however, governed by same legislative boundaries as defined by Model House of Commons Law with regard to the devolution of powers to the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly.
2) Party Leaders or members (submitting private members bills) will send the bill to the Speaker.
3) The Speaker will acknowledge they have received the bill and post the bill title and post the date the bill will go up for discussion in the Hansard.
4) The Speaker will then post the bill in the House of Commons forum on the day a bill is to go up for discussion (as stated in the Hansard).
5) The Speaker will then PM all members to inform them that a new bill is up for discussion.
6) The Speaker will remind the submitters of the bill when they have 48 hours left to make decisions on whether a bill goes to another reading or to voting.
7) The speaker will be responsible for posting the final bill in the Division Lobby and sending a PM round to the MPs to inform them of a vote.
Bill Procedure
1) In the House of Commons a maximum of one government bill, one non-government bill, one motion, one treaty and one amendment per day is permitted, excluding ‘joke’ bills.
2) Once an item has been submitted it will be listed in the Hansard and marked with the date the bill will go up for discussion.
3) Each item will be assigned a number, this number will continue throughout the bill from reading to voting, a bill under discussion will be denoted a Bxx, a bill at voting will be Vxx, a motion will be Mxx, a treaty as Txx and an amendment will be Axx.
4) Each item can undergo a maximum of 3 readings:
- (a) First Reading – Two days minimum, Six days maximum (with an additional 48 hour extension if requested)
- (b) Second Reading – One day minimum, Four days maximum (with an additional 24 hour extension if requested)
- (c) Third reading – One day minimum, Three days maximum
5) After a reading, the item is put into cessation for up to 7 days unless the proposer has asked for it to go to a new reading or to cessation.
6) At any point during an item's discussion the submitter can ask for a 7 day cessation period.
7) An item can be withdrawn at any point.
8) Items can be discussed by all members of the House of Commons.
Bill Formatting
1) 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).
2) Each bill should contain the following:
Short Title
Just to give the general jist 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.
The bill should also be in a “field” in this field must be included the bill name and party/private member submitting the bill, the way you put your bill in a field is as follows:
[field=Bill name (party/private member name)] Bill content goes here [/field]
Motions
1) Motions are used to debate a statement, as opposed to bills which are detailed and change law.
2) Party Leaders or members (submitting private members bills) will send the statement to the Speaker.
3) The Speaker will acknowledge they have received the motion and post the motion title and the date the motion will go up for discussion in the Hansard.
4) The speaker will then post the motion in the House of Common forum on the day a motion is to go up for discussion (as stated in the Hansard).
5) The speaker will then PM all MPs to inform them that a new motion is up for discussion.
6) The speaker will remind the submitter(s) of the motion when they have 48 hours left to make decisions on whether a motion goes to another reading or to voting.
7) The Speaker will be responsible for posting the final motion in the Division lobby and sending a PM round to the MPs to inform them of a vote.
Petitions
1) Registered members of The Student Room (barring MPs and The Speaker) may post a petition in the Model House of Commons forum.
2) A petition must call upon either the TSR Government or the House as a whole to do something which can be implemented through legislation.
3) Petitions do not require seconders and may be debated by any member of The Student Room except The Speaker.
4) The Speaker may remove petitions which do not meet the criteria in 1.2 or are duplicates of petitions already posted.
5) The Speaker will format petitions appropriately if required.
6) The Speaker will send a message to MPs to inform them of a new petition.
7) The Speaker will put petitions to vote in the Division Lobby after 4 days discussion.
8) Petitions pass if more MPs vote Aye than No.
9.1) If a petition which calls upon the TSR Government do something is passed, the Prime Minister or responsible Minister will make a statement to the House within 7 days of its passing to outline their intentions on fulfilling the petition through legislation.
9.2) A further statement will be required if a bill fulfilling the petition is not brought before the House within 3 weeks of the first statement (not including when the House isn’t sitting).
9.3) If a petition which calls upon the House to do something is passed, The Speaker will appeal to the House for a coalition, party or MP to fulfil the petition.
10) The Speaker will create and maintain a listing of petitions submitted to the House.
11) If by the judgement of the Speaker, the petitions system becomes unmanageable, he may impose restrictions as he sees fit in order to allow petitions to proceed in an orderly way.
Referendums
1) Referendums should relate to real life constitutional matters.
2) Referendums will have to be approved by the Speaker and Community team before taking place.
3) A thread will be posted in Current Affairs along with a poll posing the question to the members of TSR.
4) All TSR members with more than 100 posts and 3 months experience may vote.
5) Referendums will pass if more votes are cast in favour than against (excluding abstentions), but a bill or motion may stipulate a higher percentage.
6) Voting for a referendum will last 4 days.
7) No more than 1 referendum may be called in a single term of parliament.
7.1) The Speaker may reject a referendum on the grounds that it is significantly similar to a previous referendum that has been held within the last four parliamentary terms (including the current term).
8) A member of the Community team will be the returning officer during a referendum.
9) Referendum Petitions –
9.1) can be submitted by a party, an MP or a non-MP when seconded by an MP.
9.2) shall be in the following format: "We the undersigned call for a referendum on..... with the question......"
9.3) will pass if signed by more than 50% of sitting MPs.
Amendments
1) Amendments are to change the Guiding Document and the Constitution.
2) To change the Constitution you will need to highlight what you want to be changed using its numerical system.
3) Additions can be made by continuing the number pattern, and removals can be made and the numbers listed will change.
4) Any major changes being made must contain exact details to ensure there is no confusion.
5) Please make it clear what needs to be changed by saying “remove x” and “replace with y”.
6) The same time scale procedures as bills apply
7) Any amendments proposed will have a number associated with them and will be Axx throughout the entire process.
Treaties
1) Treaties and pacts shall be considered the same for the purposes of procedure.
2) The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will send the treaty to the Speaker.
3) The Speaker will acknowledge they have received the treaty and post the treaty title and the date the treaty will go up for discussion in the Hansard.
4) The Speaker will then post the treaty in the House of Common forum on the day a treaty is to go up for discussion (as stated in the Hansard).
5) The Speaker will then PM all MPs to inform them that a new treaty is up for discussion.
6) A treaty will have one reading lasting four days.
7) The Speaker will PM the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to ask them to decide whether a treaty goes to vote or not on the third day of the treaty’s reading.
8) The Speaker will be responsible for posting the treaty in the Division lobby and sending a PM round to the MPs to inform them of a vote.
9) The treaty cannot be changed from the version approved in the MUN.
Voting
1) Each bill going to vote will have the question “Should this bill be passed into law?”
2) Each amendment going to vote should have the question “Should this amendment be passed into the Constitution (and/or) Guidance Document?
3) Each motion going to vote will have the question “Do you agree with this motion?”
4) Each petition going to vote will have the question “Do you support this petition?"
5) Each treaty going to vote will have the question: ‘Should this treaty be ratified by this House?
6) Voting on bills, amendments, motions and petitions should have the following 3 options:
- (a) As many as are of that opinion, Aye
- (b) On the contrary, No
- (c) Abstain
7) Voting should always last for 4 days.
8)Voting on bills, motion, treaties and petitions should be made public.
9) Voting on Amendments should remain secret.
Votes of No Confidence
Votes of No Confidence against the Government
1) A vote of no confidence can be called against the Government at any point during a term of governance. The person calling the vote must be an MP of any party.
2) The Speaker must be notified by one person and get another to person to second their Vote of No Confidence (both people need to be MPs).
3) This will automatically start a 3 day discussion where both sides get to argue their points; the Speaker will start a thread and post the reasons for the Vote of No Confidence being called.
4) After the 3 day discussion a 4 day poll will be opened in the Division Lobby so that all MPs can have a vote. The poll will be a private poll only showing the results when it has ended.
5) If the result of the poll is in favour of the Vote of No Confidence then a period of 7 days shall be allowed for other parties to form a new government (using all the usual regulations for it).
6) If the result of the poll does not favour the Vote of No Confidence then usual business will resume in the House of Commons.
Votes of No Confidence against a Party Leader
1) A Vote of Confidence can be called against a Party Leader at any point, this can be done by any member of the party).
2) The Speaker must be notified by the person calling the Vote of No Confidence and someone to second it (both people must be members of the party).
3) The Speaker will ask the administration team for administrative rights to the party subforum and send out a PM to all members informing them of the Vote of No Confidence.
4) The Speaker will create a thread with the reasons for the Vote of No Confidence and add a poll; this poll will be open for 4 days and will decide the future of the Party Leader. (The poll will be a secret poll that will only display the results when it ends).
5) If the vote goes in favour of the Vote of No Confidence, the Party Leader will be removed from power and the Deputy Leader will assume the position of Acting Leader. The Speaker will then run a party leadership election.
6) If the vote does not go in favour of the Vote of No Confidence then the leadership remains and business continues as usual.
Vote of No Confidence against the Speaker / Deputy Speaker
1) A vote of No Confidence can be called against the Speaker at any point during their speakership
2) The Vote of Confidence against a Speaker must be sent to them via a PM, along with a person to second the Vote of No Confidence. (The person calling the Vote of No Confidence must be an MP as does the person seconding the Vote of No Confidence).
3) The person proposing the Vote of No Confidence must then post a thread in the House of Commons stating the reasons why they are calling a Vote of No Confidence in the Speaker.
4) The speaker will send a PM to all MPs to inform them of the Vote of No Confidence.
5) There will be a period of 3 - 4 days where the members of the House of Commons can ask questions to both the speaker and person calling the Vote of No Confidence.
6) If the speaker does not want to deal with the Vote of No Confidence they can appoint a Moderator to deal with the Vote of No Confidence. If they do want to deal with the Vote of No Confidence then they are allowed to set up the poll and oversee everything.
7) After the debating has finished the Speaker/appointed moderator will set up a poll lasting 4 days in the Division Lobby where the MPs will get a vote on the future of the Speaker.
8) The Poll will be a private poll so the results are not revealed until the poll ends.
9) If the results are in the favour of the Vote of No Confidence, the speaker will automatically start a Speaker election which either they can run, or the appointed moderator will oversee. Once the new Speaker is found the old Speaker will be removed from power.
10) If the results are not in favour of the Vote of No Confidence then the Speaker will return to their duties but would be expected to make a formal apology to the house.
Prime Minister's Questions
1)The Prime Minister may choose the day of the week they answer Prime Minister's Questions. They should endeavour to be online as much as possible in the 24 hours after the update on that day.
2) MPs can PM the Speaker questions to be put to the Prime Minister. These should, at least roughly, relate to government actions, policies, aims or ideals.
3) By midnight two days before the chosen day, the Speaker should PM up to 8 questions to the Prime Minister. No more than one question should be from any single MP, except the Leader of the Opposition who may ask two. In the event of there being more than 8 questions for the Prime Minister, the Speaker should decide which 8 to send, but should aim to have questions from a range of parties and those from the Leader of the Opposition should take precedence.
4) The Prime Minister should answer the questions by PM to the Speaker by 5pm on the chosen day, ready for the evening update, when the Speaker should post them in the House.
5) The thread will stay open for follow-up questions to the Prime Minister until the update the next evening. All members may ask a single follow-up question, except the Leader of the Opposition who may ask two.
6) If the Prime Minister is unavailable, the Deputy Prime Minister should stand in. If they are also unavailable the Chancellor should, if there is one. If none of these three are available Prime Minister's Questions does not happen.
Budget
1) The Chancellor should present a budget to the House at the same time as both a real life budget and pre-budget report.
2) The budget should estimate tax revenue and government expenditure, and give an idea of the economic measures the Chancellor intends to introduce in the rest of that term.
3) The Chancellor should PM the Speaker before the real life budget or pre-budget report occurs with their speech, which the Speaker should post in the House when doing the update on the day of the budget or pre-budget report.
4) The thread should stay open for 7 days for members to ask the Chancellor questions.
Secretary of State Reports
1) Each Secretary of State should present a report to the House once per term.
2) This report should give an idea of the measures in their department they intend to introduce during the rest of that term.
3) The Secretary of State should PM the Speaker before the update they would like the report to go with their speech, which the Speaker should post in the House.
4) The thread should stay open for 7 days for members to ask the Chancellor questions.
5) No more than one Secretary of State Report thread, or the Budget thread, may be open at once.
