The 2007 Legislative Programme was drawn up by the

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

for the

parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...

beginning 6 November 2007 and ending on the 22 July 2008. The

Legislative Programme A legislative programme is a list of bills which the United Kingdom government intends to introduce to Parliament during a parliamentary session. The programme is an outline of the Government's intended direction and emphases in the coming year. Acc ...

was compiled by

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

's government, approved by his Cabinet, and laid out in the Speech from the Throne on the first day of the parliamentary session by the

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

. Unlike previous years, the Government outlined a draft legislative programme on 11 July 2007. This was done, according to a statement by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Gordon Brown, because "it is now right in the interests of good and open government and public debate that each year the Prime Minister make a summer statement to this House so that initial thinking, previously private, can now be the subject of widespread and informed public consultation."

Government Bills

The programme outlined 29 bills that the Government intended to introduce over the coming parliamentary session. As of 21 June 2008, five had been enacted by

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

, 18 were in progress, and 7 were at draft stage and hadn't been submitted to Parliament. The discrepancy between the 29 proposed bills in the Legislative Programme and the 30 bills listed below is caused by the

Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 The Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 (c 2) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that entered into force on the 21 February 2008 in order to enable the UK government to nationalise high-street banks under emergency circumstances ...

, which was introduced as emergency legislation by Chancellor of the Exchequer

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...

in February 2008 in order to

nationalise Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

Northern Rock Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank i ...

. Before being submitted to Parliament, a draft is written by the Government. This becomes a bill in Parliament and passes through both houses in 9 sequential

stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * S ...

, finally achieving

and being enacted as law ( Act). It passes through one house (five stages) and then the other (four stages), and may start in either the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

or the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. If the bill is rejected at any stage, it does not pass to the next stage in the process. In the first house, the bill passes through five stages 1st Reading (''1''), 2nd Reading (''2''), Committee (''3''), Report (''4''), and 3rd Reading (''5''). In the second house, the bill passes through four stages: 1st Reading (''6''), 2nd Reading (''7''), Committee (''8''), and Report (''9'').

References

{{reflist Legislative programmes