A Bill to amend the Statutory Instruments Act 1946; to make provision for the conditional amendment of statutory instruments; and for connected purposes.
House of Lords
6 May 2026
May contain errors — check source documents for definitive information.
The Bill would change how Statutory Instruments are handled by Parliament. It would let the Lords hold up a draft SI until the Commons’ concerns are addressed, introduce a 40-day window to fix non-substantive errors, require publication of any amended instrument, and tighten procedural steps before an SI can become law. The changes would take effect six months after Royal Assent and would be taken forward through both Houses, with ongoing debates about the balance of power between Lords and Commons.
The Bill has completed its Lords stages, with several Baroness Finn amendments proposed (mostly probing or restrictive in nature) that were withdrawn or not moved in Committee. It has moved to the Commons, with a first reading in July 2025 and the 2nd reading yet to occur; no final Commons decision has been recorded in the provided documents.
Generated 21 February 2026
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16 Jul 2025
Showing agreed, defeated, and withdrawn amendments.
The 2024-2026 session of Parliament has come to an end so the House of Commons is now prorogued until the next session begins on 13 May 2026. Prorogation is the formal end to the parliamentary year.
This Bill will therefore make no further progress.
The marshalled list shows amendments proposed by Baroness Finn to the Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Bill [HL], including limiting how long a challenged SI can be withheld to 40 days and ensuring relaid SIs are considered by the Lords, with changes to the may/must wording. It also includes a probing amendment to apply the same rules to the Commons and a provision to prevent ministers from making minor post-approval changes to SIs; Baroness Finn has indicated she will oppose Clause 2 stand part.
An amendment to Clause 1 would require that, if a statutory instrument is considered in the House of Commons, the rest of section 6A applies with ‘the House of Commons’ in place of ‘the House of Lords’. It is intended as a probing measure to ensure the Lords does not have greater powers to amend such instruments than the Commons, tabled by Baroness Neville-Rolfe.
The bill would amend the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 to allow the House of Lords to withhold approval of a draft statutory instrument until the Commons’ concerns are resolved, with a process for ministers to respond and either amend, approve, or withdraw the instrument. It would introduce a Corrections provision enabling ministers to fix non-substantive errors within 40 days of final approval and require publication of the amended instrument, while also tightening related procedural thresholds (increasing certain steps from two to three and from three to four). The amendments would come into force six months after Royal Assent.
No recorded votes for this bill yet.
