Thread by @hhesterm

Let’s talk a bit SO14. Yes. That is the mysterious standing order 14, at the core of the current #Brexit constitutional revolution. And I will be happy to hear from procedure buffs who know more about this than me, but I am developing a weird fascination for SO14. (Thread)

So here it is: SO14. Yes it is longer than this. It doesn’t quite fit into one screenshot.

While the public face of UK constitutional law is sovereignty of parliament and thus the strongest parliament in the world, not constrained by a written constitution, the secret boss is government: government business has precedence at every sitting.

That means the timetable is under control of the government - but there are exceptions: 17 session days for the leader of the opposition, 3 for the second largest opposition party, 13 Fridays for private members’ bills, 35 days are set aside for backbench business.

There’s a number of small fry detailed exceptions. That’s not for twitter though. So how many days are in one session? Depending on the year it varies, roughly 150 bbc.com/news/uk-politi…

This is in stark contrast to other parliaments, who control their business themselves. Some examples: The US House of Representatives. This is a bit dated, but rather clear: the majority leadership (not the government) controls.

Now, of course, in the UK because it is a parliamentary system the government and the majority leadership are one and the same (that is also the reason we never spoke about SO14, because the majority was in control) - so maybe not a good example.

So let’s go continental: The German Bundestag: the Ältestenrat controls the timetable. So who’s that?

It’s a committee that mirrors the composition of parliament (that’s § 12 of the GO)

What about France? I have to caveat that a little - have to do other work soon. But the basic rule seems to be this

The assembly determines its business on proposition of the Conference of the Presidents. What strange beast is that?

Here it is, another parliamentary body.