British Parliamentary Debate Rulebook
This page outlines the criteria for participation, scoring procedures, and other policies governing all EduDrift competitions held in the British Parliamentary debate format providing a clear and concise framework for all participants to follow.
Tournament Guidelines
Tournament Format
British Parliamentary
Speech Length
Each team must deliver two 7-minute substantive speeches.
Team Size
Each team must consist of 2 members. Each team will be given a unique team code which will be used as their identifier throughout the tournament.
Team Composition
Each team will be randomly assigned to one of the four (4) houses of the debate each round:
- Opening Government (OG)
- Opening Opposition (OO)
- Closing Government (CG)
- Closing Opposition (CO)
Each team will consist of the following members:
- Opening Government will consist of a “Prime Minister” and a “Deputy Prime Minister”.
- Opening Opposition will consist of a “Leader of Opposition” and a “Deputy Leader of Opposition”.
- Closing Government will consist of a “Member of the Government” and a “Government Whip”.
- Closing Opposition will consist of a “Member of the Opposition” and an “Opposition Whip”.
Points of Information
Points of Information (questions directed to the person speaking) may be asked between the first-minute mark and the sixth-minute mark of the members’ speeches.
The current speaker may choose to accept or decline points of information.
Preparation Time
Teams have a total of 15 minutes to prepare their speeches after the motion is released. During the preparation time, communication is only allowed between team members. The use of online resources is prohibited.
Motions
The motion will be unambiguously worded and the speakers should debate in the spirit of the motion and the tournament.
Preliminary Rounds
The tournament will have five (5) preliminary rounds.
Out-rounds
Teams will be categorized into their respective break categories and would debate against teams in the same category. Each out-round follows an elimination basis, wherein the winning team advances to the next round and the losing team will get eliminated from next rounds. Results for each out-round will be announced in the convening hall.
Speaker Scores
A speaker score range of 50-100 will be used during the tournament.
Iron Person Policy
Should a member of a team be absent during a round, the present member of that team can attend the debate as an “iron-person” team, subject to the following:
– In judging an iron-person team, the Adjudication Panel shall treat the team as if they were an ordinary team, and fill out the ballot accordingly (indicating that the team was an iron-person team on the ballot).
– The results of a debate in the Preliminary Rounds that includes an iron-person team shall be entered into the tab as follows:
– The team in question shall receive the team points earned during that round
– Both speaker scores shall be awarded to that team
– The speaker who served as the iron person should get the higher of the two speaker points, and the speaker who did not speak for the round should get the lower speaker point allowed by the constitution.
Teams can only attend as an iron-person team once during the preliminary rounds to be eligible to break.
Teams cannot attend the out-rounds as an iron-person team.
Disconnection Policy
For Online Debaters
Debaters who have (1) lost connection during the round and/or (2) fail to proceed to their debate rooms after preparation time ends are given only 5 minutes to reconnect. Should they fail to reconnect after 5 minutes, the round proceeds as usual, the disconnected speaker’s speech would be skipped and their teammate would then be required to be an iron-person during the round.
For Online Adjudicators
Adjudicators who have (1) lost connection during the round and/or (2) fail to proceed to their debate rooms after preparation time ends are given only 5 minutes to reconnect. Should they fail to reconnect after 5 minutes, the round proceeds as usual. If the disconnected adjudicator is part of the judging panel, they won’t be able to judge the current round. If the disconnected adjudicator is the chairperson, someone else from the panel will take their place.
Decorum
Etiquette
It is expected that all participants maintain a high level of decorum and professionalism throughout the entirety of the tournament. Any participant who engages in disruptive behavior will be subject to removal from the event.
Zero Tolerance Policy
This event maintains a zero-tolerance policy for any harmful, hateful, discriminatory, or offensive behavior. Any participant who engages in such behavior will be immediately removed from the venue.