Allocation of time motions
Selected letter
A
Allocation of time or 'guillotine' motions have been used by governments to limit the amount of time that MPs can spend debating a particular stage of a Bill in the House of Commons. In recent years these have been replaced by Programme motions which set out a more detailed timetable for each stage of a Government Bill in the Commons and are moved as soon as a Bill has passed its Second reading.
There is no equivalent in the House of Lords where the government cannot limit debating time.