Third reading (Lords)

What is third reading?

Before third reading takes place

Before third reading, amendments (changes) are gathered together and placed in order, then published in the ‘marshalled list'.

What happens at third reading?

Unlike the House of Commons, amendments can be made at third reading in the House of Lords, provided the issue has not been fully considered and voted on during either committee or report stage.

Amendments at third reading are often used to clarify specific parts of the bill and to allow the government to make good any promises of changes they made at earlier stages of the passage of a bill.

What happens after third reading?

If the bill started in the Lords, it goes to the House of Commons for its first reading. The Commons reprints the bill with the Lords amendments.

If the bill began in the Commons, it is sent back after third reading in the Lords for consideration of Lords amendments, or, if there have been no amendments in the Lords, is sent to the monarch for royal assent.