Sittings of the House of Commons over 24 hours since 1901

The House of Commons normally sits at the following times: 

These sitting times have been in place since 2012. The times of sittings may be changed at short notice if the House agrees or may finish earlier. The House generally sits on thirteen Fridays in a session. While the House sometimes sits past midnight, it is rare for a sitting to last more than 24 hours.  

Parliamentary records normally record the entire sitting as taking place on the date on which it began. For example, there is no record of the House sitting in the Commons Chamber on 26 January 2000, as it had not yet risen from the sitting which began on the 25 January 2000.  

The downloadable Excel file lists the session, main item of business, date, time and length of a sitting for each sitting lasting more than 24 hours. Source details are available in the Excel file.  

Parliament: facts and figures

The Parliament: facts and figures series covers topics including elections, government, legislation, Members and parliamentary business. 

Please get in touch with us at papers@parliament.uk with comments, corrections, or if you would like to access the data in a different format.