Parliamentary Influence on Brexit Legislation, 2017–2019

• Published in: Parliamentary affairs 2024-01, Vol.77 (1), p.25-45
• Main Authors: Fleming, Thomas G, James, Lisa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: European Union; Great Britain. Parliament; Law reform; Legislative amendments; Political science; Referendum
• ISSN: 0031-2290; 1460-2482
• DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsac014

Abstract The UK parliament’s role in the Brexit process has been closely scrutinised and fiercely contested. Despite this, we still have relatively little systematic evidence about parliament’s role in shaping Brexit legislation. This article therefore analyses the extent and nature of parliamentary influence on Brexit-related legislation between 2017 and 2019. Using new data on the legislative passage of 13 different bills, including over 3000 proposed amendments, we measure the prominence of three different kinds of parliamentary influence, and compare this to findings from earlier periods. We show that some Brexit bills had a fairly typical parliamentary experience, with very few successful non-government amendments but numerous government concessions. However, a dramatic change from earlier periods was the large number of Brexit-related bills that were simply paused once the government encountered parliamentary difficulties. Parliament’s influence over Brexit legislation in this period therefore showed elements of both continuity and change. This finding contributes to our understanding of the Brexit process, and of parliament’s role in recent British politics.