Member of Parliament (UK)/Addendum

Disqualification for membership of the House of Commons

The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 lays down six classes of office holders who are disqualified:

• holders of certain judicial offices including High Court and Court of Appeal judges
• civil servants, whether established or not, and whether full or part time;
• members of the regular armed forces;
• full time police officers;
• members of the legislature of any country outside the Commonwealth; and
• holders of other offices listed in the Act.

However other enactments and the common law also disqualify a range of people, such as minors and aliens

Among changes since the 1975 Act are

• the provisions of the House of Lords Act 1999, as a result of which hereditary peers, except those that sit in the House of Lords, are no longer disqualified;
• the provisions of the Disqualifications Act 2000, as a result of which members of the legislature of the Republic of Ireland are eligible to sit in the Commons; and
• minor legislative provisions listed by the Parliament and Constitution Centre