Introduction to British Parliamentary Style Debating

First of all, I wish to congratulate on recent developments that the DEMI English debaters have accomplished. I take in great pride that you guys have gone further than I have, and I hope to see more to come (quite honestly, I am jealous of you guys.. haha). Now the time has come that DEMI English debaters take the next step, to practise the British Parliamentary style debate. There are some similarities with the Asian Parliamentary style that was carried out during the previous Vice Chancellor Debate, but the differences won't be too difficult to understand.

British Parliamentary Debate consists of 2 sides (Government & Opposition) which each side features 2 factions (Opening and Closing) consisting of 2 speakers each. Therefore, there would be a total of 8 speakers from 4 different institutions in the following:

Opening Government:
-Prime Minister
-Deputy Prime Minister

Opening Opposition:
-Opposition Leader
-Deputy Opposition Leader

Closing Government:
-Member for the Government
-Government Whip

Closing Opposition:
-Member for the Opposition
-Opposition Whip

The speakers would alternatte from one side to the next, meaning that the debate is conduct in the following order: Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Opposition Leader, Member for the Government, Member for the Opposition, Government Whip, Opposition Whip. Each speech is delivered in a time frame of 7 minutes, so again similair to the Asian Parliamentary style, the first and the sixth minute of the speech is protected where Point of Information (PoI) is not allowed.

I can go on more abbout British Parliamentary Debate, but instead of feeding you guys the information, I recommend that you do check on the following sites:

1. An Introduction to British Parliamentary Debating (Oxford Union Schools)
   
2. The Debating Handbook (Alexander Deane)
   
3. British Parliamentary Style Debating (Patrick Delaney and Harry Greenwell)
   
4. Debate and Issue 101: British Parliamentary Debate (Arnel D. Mateo)
   

Please do read carefully on the guidelines and rules that I have provided. Better yet, spend more time doing research on British Parliamentary Debate. If you want to see online videos of such debate, then head on to the Debate Video blog.