Debate a Bill Level 1

Debate a bill – Level 1

Making laws

Inthisactivityyourstudentswillhaveagoatscrutinisingabillforthemselvesbefore movingontothefinalvoteintheHouse ofCommonsorHouse ofLords.

Taskone

Chooseoneofthelawsintheactivity:

•Raisetheschoolleavingage

•BanlisteningtoMP3playersinpublic

•Buildmorehouses

Divideyourstudentsintotwogroups.Oneofthegroupswillrepresentthegovernmentandtheothergroupwill representtheopposition.

YoushouldalsochoosewhetheryouwanttodiscussthebillintheHouseofCommonsortheHouseofLords.

Tasktwo

Members ofthegovernmentwanttointroducethelawyouhavechosen.Theyneedtothinkoffive reasonswhy itwillimprovelifeinBritain.

Members oftheoppositionhavetoscrutinisethegovernment,tocheckthatthelawisagoodidea. Theyshouldthinkoffivepossibleproblemswiththelaw.

Writedowntheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofthelawinthetablebelow:

Taskthree

Membersofthegovernmentshouldpicktheirthreestrongestargumentsinfavourofthenew bill. Theymaywanttoincludesomeevidencefortheirarguments,ifavailable.

Members oftheoppositionshouldthinkofthreequestionsthey canaskthegovernmenttorevealany weaknessesinthebill.Theycanbase theseondisadvantagestheyidentifiedintheprevioustask.

Taskfour

Membersofthegovernmentshouldchooseaspokesperson.

Members oftheoppositionshouldchooseadifferentpersontoaskeachofthethreequestions. Thenbringthetwogroupsbacktogether.

Spokespersonforthegovernmentwillreadoutthetitleofthebill.

Spokespeoplefortheoppositionwillthenasktheirquestionsinturn,andeachquestionshouldbefollowed byaresponsefromthegovernmentspokesperson.

Taskfive

Nowselectthesamebillintheinteractivewhiteboardandfollowtheactivitytohoneyourscrutinyskills. Whenyouhaveaskedallthreequestionsintheactivity,checkyourscrutinyratingonthewhiteboard.

Tasksix

Timetovote!

1.Bringtheclassbacktogether.Atthispointthey canleavebehindtheirrolesas membersofthegovernment oroftheopposition,so they arefreetovoteaccordingtotheirownopinion.

2.Re-readthebill.

3.IfyouhavechosentovoteonthebillintheHouseofCommonsthenaskallthestudentsinfavourofthe billtosay‘aye’andallthestudentsopposedtoittosay‘no’.ThisishowMPsvote.Ifyouarevotinginthe HouseofLordsthenstudentsinfavourshouldsay‘content’andthoseagainstshouldsay‘notcontent’.

4.If itisn’tclearwhichside has wonthenit’stimefora division.Studentsinfavourofthebillshouldallgather atoneside oftheroomandstudentsagainstitshouldgototheotherside.Thentheycan becounted.

5.Finally,returntotheinteractivewhiteboardandselect‘vote’.Inputthecorrectnumberof‘aye’and‘no’ votes,or‘content’and‘notcontent’votes,andthewhiteboardwilltellyouhowmanyMPsorPeersthis wouldequatetointheHouseofCommonsorHouseofLords.

Didyourbillpass?