The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

which allowed members of the public and press to attend meetings of certain public bodies. The Act is notable for having been initiated as a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

drawn up by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

, and also for being introduced in a

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

, a unique feat for successful legislation. On 5 February 1960, Thatcher's speech was delivered without notes, and was lauded as the best maiden speech amongst the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

new intake. The Act was introduced primarily to prevent circumvention of rules prohibiting councils from excluding the press by calling a

Committee of the Whole A committee of the whole is a meeting of a legislative or deliberative assembly using procedural rules that are based on those of a committee, except that in this case the committee includes all members of the assembly. As with other (standing) c ...

, a tactic that had been used by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-controlled councils during an industrial dispute in the printing industry in 1958. A similar bill had been introduced a number of years earlier by

Lionel Heald Sir Lionel Frederick Heald, QC, PC (7 August 1897 – 8 November 1981) was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. Early life Heald was born in Parrs Wood, Didsbury, Lancashire. He was educated at Charterhouse, then served ...

, who helped guide Thatcher through the legislative process.

References

External links

* United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1960 {{UK-statute-stub