British Parliamentary Debate Example | WADL 2017

An example of a British Parliamentary debate for the West Australian Debating League's upcoming BP Debating Competition.

The topic is: "That we Should Privatise Prisons"

Find out more at http://www.wadl.org/bpcomp/bp-debating

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British Parliamentary Debating is based on the style of debate that occurs in the British Parliament. In BP debates there are four teams of two who are all competing against each other. The debate is divided into two 'houses': the Government who proposes the motion (topic) and the Opposition who opposes the motion. These two 'houses' are further divided into Opening and Closing halves. Therefore, each debate will consist of four teams, with each team acting as one of the following:

Opening Government (OG)
Opening Opposition (OO)
Closing Government (CG)
Closing Opposition (CO)

Each team has two speakers, all of which have their own positions. The order of speakers is as follows:

Prime Minister (OG)
Leader of the Opposition (OO)
Deputy Prime Minister (OG)
Deputy Leader of the Opposition (OO)
Member for the Government (CG)
Member for the Opposition (CO)
Government Whip (CG)
Opposition Whip (CO)

Speakers in the WADL BP Competition will speak for 6-7 minutes, with Points of Information offered between the 1-6 minute mark. Each speaker has a different role and responsibility, and all the technical rules and procedures of BP Debating can be found in the 2017 BP Competition Debating Handbook.