Issued by the Speaker and the Deputy

Speakers

Rules of behaviour
and courtesies in the
House of Commons

September 2021
Introduction

This guidance was agreed by the

Speaker and Deputy Speakers
and is intended to help Members,
particularly those new to the House,
in understanding the behaviour
expected in the Chamber of the House
of Commons and in Westminster Hall.
While open to change, these rules are
important in maintaining the good
order of proceedings and the civility of
debate–so that all Members are able to
participate and be heard with respect.
Applying to speak in debates
1. If you wish to catch the Speaker’s eye to speak in
a debate in the Chamber, you should write to the
Speaker in advance. You should also write if you
wish to speak in a Westminster Hall debate of an
hour or more in length. If you have not written
in, you may still seek to take part in a debate by
approaching the Chair or trying to catch the Chair’s
eye during the debate, but those who have written
in advance will usually be called first. Adding your
name to a notice of motion or amendment is not
enough to indicate an intention to speak: even if
your name is on a motion you should still inform the
Speaker’s Office if you wish to take part in a debate.
2. You should write in advance to indicate a wish to
speak on the second or third readings of bills. It is
not necessary to do so for Committee of the whole
House, report stage or consideration of Lords
Amendments.
3. The informal and unpublished list of those who
have given notice is used by the Chair to calculate
the length of any time limit on speeches and
determine the order in which to call speakers.
If circumstances prevent you from attending a
debate for which you have indicated a wish to
speak, you should inform the Speaker’s Office at the
earliest opportunity of your wish to withdraw your
name or speak directly to the occupant of the Chair
on the day in question.

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4. Selection of speakers in debate is at the discretion
of the occupant of the Chair. The Chair cannot,
however, predict precisely when you might expect
to be called. The objective at all times is to give
all Members a fair opportunity to take part in
debate. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers will take
account of relevant experience or expertise (in or
outside the House, including on select committees
where particularly relevant), Members’ expressed
interests or constituency involvement and the
number of times you have previously spoken (or
have sought to speak but not been called) during
the Session.

Attendance in the Chamber

5. Once you have written in to request to speak, you
are under an obligation to turn up in the Chamber
for the start of the debate and you should plan to
be present for most of it. Debates in the Chamber
should be an exchange of views. If you are hoping
to be called to speak in a debate you must be
present for the opening speeches. After you have
spoken you must, as a very minimum, remain in the
Chamber for at least the next two speeches and
you must return to hear the winding-up speeches at
the end of the debate. Members who fail to observe
these courtesies will be given a lower or no priority
on the next occasion they seek to speak. Where
(for example, on backbench business) there are
no formal wind-ups, you must still be present for
a reasonable proportion of the debate, and for the
conclusion of the debate. If you are not present for
opening speeches or leave the Chamber after these
without notifying the Chair, it will be assumed that
you do not wish to take part in the debate.

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Length of speeches
6. The Chair may impose time limits on speeches in
order to give as many Members as possible the
opportunity to contribute to a debate. It will not
always be possible for every Member who has
indicated a wish to be called to speak. The Chair
will not call a Member after the wind-up speeches
have concluded, even if there is time remaining.
7. Even if time limits are not imposed, you should
speak with reasonable brevity and be mindful of
others. Brevity in debate will give other Members
a greater opportunity to speak and increase your
chances of being called early on the next occasion
on which you seek to speak. Opening speeches
should be of a length which takes account of
the numbers wishing to participate and the time
available.

Interventions
8. You may intervene briefly in someone else’s speech,
but only if the Member who has the floor gives way.
If the Member makes clear that they are not giving
way, you must resume your seat. An intervention
should relate directly to what has just been said
and not be a short speech of its own. Particularly
where there are time limits in operation, you should
be conscious of the impact of multiple interventions
on the chances of others getting the opportunity
to participate. It is a discourtesy to others to
make an intervention shortly after arriving in the
Chamber, and to leave again shortly afterwards.
At the very least you must have been present for
the whole of any speech you intervene in. Excessive
interventions may prejudice your chances of being
called to speak.

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End-of-day adjournment and
other half-hour debates
9. Half-hour adjournment debates in the Chamber
are intended to be an exchange between the
Member who has the debate and the Minister.
Other Members may make a speech in the debate
only with the permission of both the Member and
Minister concerned, secured in advance of the
debate. If such permission is granted, the Chair
must be notified. These restrictions apply also to
half-hour debates in Westminster Hall, but not
to longer debates there. They may be disapplied
in the Chamber, at the Chair’s discretion, if an
adjournment debate starts unusually early.
10. You are not required to get agreement in advance
before making an intervention in speeches in these
debates: it is entirely up to the Member who has
the floor whether to accept a request to intervene.
But opposition frontbenchers may not intervene
in their shadow capacity in either the backbench
or ministerial speech in a half-hour adjournment
debate, even if it starts early and therefore lasts
longer than half an hour. The same applies in half-
hour Westminster Hall debates.

Question time
11. Before question time or ministerial statements,
you should only write to the Speaker seeking to
be called when you wish to draw to his attention
a particular fact (for example, a constituency
connection or personal interest), which you think
should be taken into account. Members who
submit generalised requests to be called will
not be given priority.

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12. A request to be called at Prime Minister’s
Questions should be submitted only in the most
exceptional circumstances. An example might be
where a particular personal tragedy has occurred
in connection with one of your constituents.
Generalised requests to be called at PMQs will be
counterproductive.
13. Questions must be brief, and particularly so during
topicals. You may make use of notes, but do not
read out your question word for word as this
greatly undermines the impact. Supplementaries
must be relevant to the substantive question just
asked. If you have asked an oral question, you must
not leave the Chamber until all supplementary
questions on that question have ended.

Statements and urgent

questions
14. If you wish to be called to ask a question following
a ministerial statement, urgent question or the
business question, you must be present for the
whole of the opening statement.
15. Government and Opposition front-benchers must
keep to the time limits set by the Speaker for
statements and urgent questions. Frontbench
spokesmen must remain present till the end of
questions on the statement or urgent question.
16. If you are called by the Speaker to ask an urgent
question, the question should be asked in the
terms that were agreed when your application
was accepted. It should not be embroidered. Your
supplementary question must take no longer than
two minutes.

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Participation
17. The Speaker’s Office keeps comprehensive records
of Members’ success and failure in being called in
debate, following ministerial statements, urgent
questions and at Prime Minister’s questions.
These statistics are always taken into account on
subsequent occasions when deciding whom to call.

Speaking in the Chamber

18. To be called to speak you must be seated within the
formal limits of the Chamber (the Chair does not
call Members sitting on the cross-benches below
the bar).
19. You should face the Chair when addressing the
House. It is discourteous to turn your back on the
Chair. It also means your words may be lost. The
television cameras and microphones covering
proceedings for broadcast have been placed to
give the clearest coverage of Members whilst
addressing the House through the Chair, and
the Official Report (Hansard) relies on the feed
from these microphones to record what you say
accurately.

Listening to debates
20. Whether seated in the Chamber or standing
behind the Chair or elsewhere, you must take care
that your private conversation or observations
on debate do not disturb proceedings or make it
difficult to hear whoever is speaking.
21. You should remember that the TV cameras do
not focus only on the Member speaking but also
broadcast occasional reaction shots during
debates and question time.

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22. When listening to a debate you should not read
books or newspapers or obviously devote yourself
to your phone or other electronic device.

Use of electronic devices

23. The House has agreed to the use in the Chamber
of hand-held electronic devices provided that they
cause no disturbance and are not used in such
a way as to impair decorum. Their use should be
confined to enabling your participation in debate.
You may use electronic devices in place of paper
notes in debate and may consult them when you
are not speaking, but they must not distract you
or others from the debate going on or make it look
as if you are not listening. All such devices must be
in silent mode and the taking of telephone calls or
listening to voicemails in the Chamber is prohibited.
24. You must not use any device to take photographs,
film or make audio recordings in or around the
Chamber.

Parliamentary language
25. You should always bear in mind Erskine May’s
advice in ‘Parliamentary Practice’ that “good
temper and moderation are the characteristics of
parliamentary language”.
26. There is no hard and fast list of unparliamentary
words. Whether something said is a breach of order
depends on the context. The Speaker deprecates
personal remarks about other Members. Any
abusive or insulting language used in debate will
be required to be withdrawn immediately.
Accusations of deliberate falsehood may only be
made on a substantive motion. No such accusations
should be made in the course of other proceedings:
if they are, they must be withdrawn immediately.

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27. The privilege of freedom of speech in debate – that
is, the protection against civil action or criminal
sanction for what is said in proceedings of the
House – allows us to conduct our debates without
fear of outside interference. But it is a freedom
which should be exercised responsibly, in the public
interest and taking into account the interests of
others outside this House. You should research
carefully and take advice before exercising this
freedom in sensitive or individual cases. Similarly,
you should take care to avoid referring to cases
which are active before the courts, unless the
Speaker has specifically agreed to waive the
House’s sub judice resolution.
28. Members must always address the House through
the Chair. It is wrong to address another Member
as ‘you’. This is not just an archaic convention.
It is essential in maintaining the civil tone and
objectivity of debate. It also avoids personal attacks
as opposed to political criticism. As “You” means
the Chair, other Members should not be addressed
as ‘you’, but should be referred to as:
• ‘the honourable Member for [constituency]
(for a Member on the opposite benches)’
• ‘my honourable friend (for a Member on your
side of the House)’
• or perhaps ‘the honourable Member opposite’
(where the context makes clear to whom you
are referring).
Note that:
• Privy Counsellors are ‘right honourable’.
• Ministers may be referred to by office or as ‘the
Minister’.
• “Learned” (for QCs) and “gallant” (for those who
serve or have served in the Armed Forces) have
largely fallen out of use.
• The House of Lords may be referred to as “the
House of Lords” – there is no requirement to call
it “the other place”.

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References to the Gallery
29. It is no longer considered out of order to make any
reference to visitors in the Public Gallery, but any
such reference should be brief and relevant to the
debate, and must not be phrased in a way that
might intimidate or seek to influence debate.

Dress
30. As with the language you use, the way in which
you dress should demonstrate respect for your
constituents, for the House and for the institution
of Parliament in the life of the nation. Members are
expected to wear business attire in and around the
Chamber. Jeans, chinos, sportswear or any other
casual trousers are not appropriate. T-shirts and
sleeveless tops are not business attire. Smart/
business shoes are expected to be worn. Casual
shoes and trainers are not appropriate. Men are
encouraged to wear a tie, and jackets must be
worn. It is a privilege to serve as a Member of
Parliament and your dress, language and conduct
should reflect this.
31. Wearing scarves, T-shirts, or large badges
displaying brand names or slogans, or other
forms of advertising of either commercial or non-
commercial causes, is not in order. The tradition of
the House is that decorations (medals, etc) of any
kind and uniforms are not worn in the Chamber.
32. Members who fail to show respect to the House will
not be called to speak by the Chair, and anyone
showing flagrant disrespect in their manner of
dress may be asked to withdraw from the Chamber.
33. You are not required to wear business dress if you
are only attending to vote in a division, but in those
circumstances you should not take your seat in the
Chamber or stand within the Chamber between
divisions.
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Courtesies and conventions
in the Chamber
34. On entering or leaving the Chamber, you should
give a slight bow to the Chair, as a gesture of
respect to the House. The same courtesy should
be extended to the Chair in Westminster Hall and
the Chair of a public bill, delegated legislation or
European committee.
35. You should not cross the line of sight between the
Speaker and the Member who has the floor or,
at Question Time, between a Member asking a
question and the Minister responding to him or her.
36. When the Chair stands, all other Members should
resume their seats (or be standing outside the
speaking limits of the Chamber – beyond the bar
or behind the Chair) and be silent.
37. Singing and chanting are not permitted in the
Chamber. Clapping is also not allowed as it eats
into the time available for debate and, as the
Modernisation Committee pointed out, “there is
a danger that such a practice might be open to
abuse and could lead in certain circumstances to
orchestration of what would amount to standing
ovations with the success or failure of a speech
being judged not by its content but by the relative
length of the ovation at the end”.
38. When the Chair is preparing to collect the voices
for the second time during a division and name the
tellers, other Members should not pass between
the Chair and the tellers until the tellers have
departed for the lobbies.
39. When the tellers are ready to announce the result
of a division, Members should either resume their
seats or stand outside the speaking limits of the
Chamber (beyond the bar or behind the Chair).
The result should be heard in silence.

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Bags
40. Space in the Chamber is limited. Laptops,
rucksacks, newspapers, briefcases and extra-large
handbags should not be brought into the Chamber.
Only small bags are permitted.

Food and drink

41. Food and drink should not be consumed in the
Chamber, unless you have alerted the Chair
that you need them for health reasons. Water
is permitted.

Accompanying children
42. You may take babies or toddlers with you into the
division lobby, and – if necessary to get to the
division lobby – take them through the Chamber.
For safety reasons, you are asked to carry your
child and not to bring pushchairs through the lobby.
You should not take your seat in the Chamber when
accompanied by your child, nor stand at either end
of the Chamber, between divisions.

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Courtesy to other Members
43. You should notify colleagues whenever:
• you intend to refer to them in the Chamber
(other than making passing reference to what
they have said on the public record)
• you table Questions which specifically affect
colleagues’ constituencies
• you intend to visit a colleague’s constituency
(except on purely private visits).
All reasonable efforts should be taken to notify
the other Member, and failing to do so is regarded
by colleagues as very discourteous.

Courtesy to each other

44. Members, their staff, and House staff work together
to make the House of Commons function effectively.
This work is typically undertaken in a constructive
manner and there is clear commitment on the part
of the House of Commons Commission to ensuring
that everyone is, at all times, treated with dignity,
courtesy and respect.

45. The Independent Complaints and Grievance

Scheme (ICGS) is a support service for anyone
experiencing bullying, harassment, and sexual
misconduct on the parliamentary estate and/
or while carrying out parliamentary work. The
scheme is available to staff employed by or working
for the House of Commons, House of Lords, or
Parliamentary Digital Service, staff working for MPs
and Peers (including constituency staff), MPs and
Peers, as well as contractors employed by external
organisations who hold a parliamentary pass and
visitors on the Parliamentary estate.

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46. All members of the Parliamentary community can
call the ICGS Helpline, for free at 0808 168 9281
(Text relay: 18001 0808 168 9281). Working hours
are 9-5 Monday-Friday. The helpline can also be
contacted by e-mail (support@ICGShelpline.org.
uk). An advisor will support anyone contacting
the ICGS Helpline by talking with them about their
experiences. The advisor will then provide guidance
through options for dealing with the behaviour,
including the option to make a formal complaint.
These conversations are confidential.

Advice
47. The Clerks at the Table are available to assist all
Members, and you should feel free to approach
them for advice – either at the Table or in the offices
in the corridor at the back of the Chair.

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