Course Details:

How to influence legislation

Audience: political staffers, professionals working for businesses or charities, campaigners

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If you want to change the law there are many levers you can pull. This course will help you understand how to navigate the legislative process, so you can maximise your chances of securing the changes you want.

 

Delivering the sessions will be former MP and government minister Norman Baker and experienced political journalist Andy McSmith, who have themselves battled to change the law and watched others trying to do the same. They will tell you what they got right and where they went wrong.

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Norman Baker

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Norman Baker was MP for Lewes  in 1997-2015. From May 2010 to September 2013 he was Minister for Transport in the coalition government, responsible for public transport. In 2013, he was promoted to Minister of State in the Home Office, responsible for crime prevention, working alongside Theresa May. His campaigning as a backbench MP, before he entered the government, earned him the titles of inquisitor of the year (The Spectator), in 2001, and opposition MP of the year (Channel 4) in 2014.

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Andy McSmith
 

Andy McSmith has worked in the House of Commons as a political correspondent for the Daily Mirror, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Independent on Sunday and the Independent. He has written about and met every serving Prime Minister from Margaret Thatcher onwards, and has published several books, including political biographies, and a history of Britain in the 1980s, No Such Thing as Society.

 

There are many ways to get issues raised in Parliament with the help of supportive MPs. Bringing about a change in the law is much more difficult, but it is not impossible. 

 

This course will cover both raising issues and changing the law.

 

During the morning session Norman Baker will explain the many ways to raise an issue in Parliament, including:

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• Early Day Motions

• Written questions to ministers

• Oral questions

• Select Committee inquiries

• Adjournment debates

• Ten minute rule bills

• Private Member's bills

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In the afternoon session Andy McSmith will demonstrate how it is possible for someone outside to influence or change legislation as it passes through Parliament. He will cover:

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• Green papers

• White papers

• A Bill's journey through Parliament, from First Reading to Report stage

• Where and how it is possible to intervene in this process

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To be the first to know when the next course is taking place, or to organise a bespoke version of this for your organisation, email us at and we will be in touch.

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