Parliament and devolution

The Houses of Parliament in Westminster are the primary source of legislation within the UK. Acts of Parliament are the main method by which Parliament creates binding law, and the process by which a legislative proposal becomes law follows a rigorous system of checks and balances. An Act of Parliament may also allow a government minister or other public authority to legislate further via secondary (subordinate or delegated) legislation.

For more information, see:

•
Practice Note: Parliamentary procedure
•
Flowchart: Progress of a Bill in UK Parliament

For related further reading, see: Legislative powers—overview.

See: Structure and format of an Act: Halsbury's Laws of England (96) 265.

Members of Parliament

Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected by the public to represent their interests and concerns in the House of Commons. MPs raise matters through Parliamentary Questions, either orally in the House of Commons or in writing. The government is required to answer parliamentary written questions. Hansard is the official record of parliamentary questions and debates in the House of Commons.

MPs who are not government ministers may also introduce a Private Members’ Bill

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Public Law News

State aid—weekly round-up 18 March 2026

A round-up of key developments on State aid, first reported by the Lexis+ Competition team. This update covers the period 11-17 March 2026.

Weekly round-up of EU-UK TCA Specialised Committees’ publications—18 March 2026

This round-up includes details of publications made by Specialised Committees established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) for the period 11 March 2026 to 17 March 2026.

Welsh Government publishes response to UK Covid-19 inquiry report on decision-making and governance

The Welsh Government has published a response to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Module 2 series report on core decision-making and political governance. The response accepts most recommendations from Baronness Hallett's inquiry while emphasising that decisions on devolved matters must remain with Welsh Ministers rather than COBR and also highlights commitments to improved transparency, including publishing scientific advice and strengthening advisory structures, alongside developing expert registers and clearer roles for participants. Key legal developments include the replacement of the 'made affirmative' procedure with a 'Senedd confirmation procedure' since 1 January 2026 under the Legislation(Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2005 and a formal agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 21 November 2025 regarding equality impact assessmnts. In addition, legislative updates also include procedural reforms to scrutiny of emergency powers and a review of the Civil Contigencies Act 2004(CCA 2004) due by 27 March 2027.

Court of Appeal upholds UT decision disallowing amortisation debits (Muller UK and Ireland Group LLP and others v HMRC)

Tax analysis: In Muller UK and Ireland Group LLP and others, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appellants’ appeals against the Upper Tribunal (UT)’s decision that amortisation debits were correctly disallowed by HMRC.