British Parliamentary Style

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University Parliamentary Debating
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British Parliamentary style debate is a common form of academic debate. It has gained support in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe, Africa, and United States, and has also been adopted as the official style of the World Universities Debating Championship and European Universities Debating Championship. Speeches are usually between five and seven minutes in duration. The debate consists of four teams of two speakers, called factions, with two factions on either side of the case.

1 Terminology
2 Roles
3 Variations
4 Competitions in BP Style
5 External links

[edit] Terminology

Because of the style's origins in British parliamentary procedure, the two sides are called the Government (more commonly called "Proposition" in the United Kingdom) and Opposition. The speakers are similarly titled:

Opening Government (first faction):
1. Prime Minister
2. Deputy Prime Minister
Opening Opposition (second faction):
1. Leader of the Opposition
2. Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Closing Government (third faction):
1. Member for the Government
2. Government Whip
Closing Opposition (fourth faction):
1. Member for the Opposition
2. Opposition Whip

Speaking alternates between the two sides and the order of the debate is therefore:

Prime Minister
Opposition Leader
Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Opposition Leader
Member for the Government
Member for the Opposition
Government Whip
Opposition Whip

[edit] Roles

As British Parliamentary debates take place between four teams their roles are split into two categories, those for the Opening factions, and those for the Closing factions.

[edit] Opening factions

The first faction on each Government and Opposition team, known as the Opening Factions, have four basic roles in a British Parliamentary debate. They must:

Define the topic of the debate.
Present their case.
Respond to arguments of the opposing first faction.
Maintain their relevance during the debate.

The Opening Government team has the semi-divine right of definition, preventing the opposition from challenging their definition of the topic unless it is either a Truism, or clearly unreasonable.

[edit] Closing factions

The role of the second two factions are to:

Introduce a case extension.
Establish and maintain their relevance early in the debate.
Respond to the arguments of the first factions.
Respond to the case extension of the opposing second faction.

In addition, the final two speakers of the debate (known as the Whips) take a similar role to the third speakers in Australia-Asian debating:

They may not introduce new arguments for their faction;
They must respond to both opposing factions' arguments;
They should briefly sum up their Opening Faction's case;
They should offer a conclusion of their own faction's case extension.

[edit] Points of Information

The style demands that all speakers offer Points of Information (POIs) to their opposition. POIs are important in British Parliamentary style, as it allows the first two factions to maintain their relevance during the course of the debate, and the last two factions to introduce their arguments early in the debate. The first and last minute of each speech is considered "protected time", during which no points of information may be offered.

[edit] Variations

Depending on the country, there are variations in speaking time, speaking order, and the number of speakers. In New Zealand, both the leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister offer a short summary as the last two speakers.

[edit] Competitions in BP Style

The debating season closely follows the academic year in English speaking countries. The first competitions are in Britain and Ireland in October& November, building up to to World Championships held over the Christmas holidays. After "Worlds" the Oxford Inter-varsity is the most prestigious. In the New Year the Trinity Inter-varsity in Dublin, the premier tournament in Ireland, recommences the season. The European Championships are usually held over the Easter break , although in 2007 they are in August. The season finishes with a number of European competitions in March and April, ahead of annual examinations in universities.

The International Mace final is held in April. It is contested by the winners of the national Mace competitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

For the World Championships and most competitions both team members must be registered students of a university or third level institution. Although occasionally 'open' competitions are held that allow non-students and composite teams to compete.