The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 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 suprem ...

that prohibits certain categories of people from becoming

members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of 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 ...

. It is an updated version of similar older acts, known collectively by the stock

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. T ...

House of Commons Disqualification Act. The groups disqualified from all constituencies are: *

Lords Spiritual The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. 26 out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not counting retired archbi ...

* judges *

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

* serving regular members of the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, except Admirals of the Fleet, Field Marshals and Marshals of the Royal Air Force * full-time police constables * members of legislatures of non-

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

countries, other than

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

* holders of certain administrative and diplomatic offices * all members of certain bodies, such as tribunals and government departments, plus some statutory corporations such as

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Lords Lieutenant and High Sheriffs are also disqualified from seats for constituencies within their area. Section 2 limits the number of government officials (specifically, holders of offices listed in Schedule 2) in the House of Commons at any one time to 95. Any appointed above that limit are forbidden to vote until the number is reduced to 95. Section 4 effectively adds the Crown Stewards and Bailiffs of the Chiltern Hundreds and of the Manor of Northstead to Part III to Schedule 1, thus naming them as offices whose holders are disqualified. These offices are

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval ch ...

s, used in modern times to effect

resignation from the House of Commons Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are not permitted to resign their seats. To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to step down are instead appointed to an " office of profit under the Cro ...

. Prior to 1926, this disqualification was due to them being "offices of profit under the Crown", but that disqualification was abolished in 1926 and by s. 1(4) of this Act. The election to the Commons of a disqualified person is invalid, and the seat of an MP who becomes disqualified is vacated immediately (triggering a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

). The

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

has jurisdiction to determine whether a purported MP is disqualified; the issue may be tried in the High Court,

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburg ...

High Court of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern Ir ...

as appropriate for the constituency.

Amendments

This Act was amended by subsequent legislation: * The

Disqualifications Act 2000 The Disqualifications Act 2000 (c. 42) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gained Royal Assent on 30 November 2000. The Act extends a privilege to Ireland whereby persons elected to sit in its houses of parliament are eligible ...

, a consequence of the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

, added the words "other than Ireland", prior to which Irish legislators were disqualified just as any other foreign legislators are. This was to bring them in line with treatment of Commonwealth legislators; however, no one has taken advantage of this privilege. * Previously, all ministers of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

, priests, and deacons were disqualified. The

House of Commons (Removal of Clergy Disqualification) Act 2001 The House of Commons (Removal of Clergy Disqualification) Act 2001 (c.13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the Act was to remove the disqualifications for clergy in standing for election as Members of Parliamen ...

restricted this disqualification to only Lords Spiritual, i.e. the most senior Anglican bishops who already sit in the House of Lords ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

''. * Various enactments have amended the lists of disqualified bodies and offices, particularly as they have come in or out of existence or fallen out of government control. * The

Representation of the People Act 1981 The Representation of the People Act 1981 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates the provision for the automatic disqualification of an MP if they are imprisoned for over a year, leading to a by-election being hel ...

provides for the automatic disqualification of parliamentary candidates or expulsion of sitting MPs if they serve an imprisonment of over a year. The nomination of a disqualified candidate is voided. The election of such a candidate or the re-election of an MP thus imprisoned will also be voided, leading to a by-election in their constituency. * The Wales Act 2014 and Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 respectively made members of the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...

Cymru (Welsh Parliament), formerly the National Assembly for Wales until May 2020, or the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = S ...

ineligible for the House of Commons.

External links

Text of the Act, original and amendments
{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1975 Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning the House of Commons