British Parliamentary debate drills for building analysis, extending in the closing half and weighing in whip speeches. Practise BP online, on any motion.
British Parliamentary is the format of university debating worldwide. Four teams of two compete in the same round: Opening and Closing Government, and Opening and Closing Opposition. The judge does not pick a winning side but ranks all four teams from first to fourth, so you are competing against the team on your own bench as much as the other side.
Each of the eight speakers has seven minutes, and the other side can offer points of information in the middle five. The opening teams set up the debate; the closing teams must bring an extension, new analysis that moves the round forward, and their final speakers, the whips, summarise the debate and weigh it.
Prep is short and tight. Motions are released fifteen minutes before the round, with no internet and no outside help, so you need to see the clash quickly, divide the arguments with your partner, and know what your position on the table requires.
BP judges reward depth of analysis over a long list of claims. They want a clear mechanism for why your argument is true, an impact that explains why it matters, engagement with the other side, and for closing teams, an extension that is genuinely new. Weighing decides close rankings.
The drills below are built for those habits. Burden Identification and Stakeholder Mapping are the questions to ask in your first five minutes of prep. Argument Anatomy and Impact & Illustration build the depth judges reward. Concision makes room for rebuttal and POIs. Rebuttal and Fallacy sharpen your responses, and Clash & Weighing trains the whip speech. Motion Generation shows you how motions are set, which helps you read them faster.
Each card says how the drill helps in a British Parliamentary round.
Assemble a full point of analysis, so every claim you make in seven minutes comes with the mechanism that proves it.
Use your fifteen minutes of prep well: list every actor the motion affects, then argue from the one that decides the round.
Write a full argument on any motion, with the clarity and depth a BP judge rewards in a constructive speech.
Give your analysis the impact and illustration that turn a good point into a reason the judge ranks you first.
Find what Government and Opposition must each prove, so your team defends the right ground from the first speech.
Strip an argument to its core, so you can make it in a minute and leave room for rebuttal and points of information.
Write a speech for any position on the table, from Prime Minister to Opposition Whip.
Respond to real arguments with a clear technique, so your rebuttal knocks out the bench before your extension.
Plan a full case in the time you would get in prep, from your team stance to the arguments and responses you will run.
Identify the clashes in a debate and weigh them, the skill behind every whip speech and closing-half extension.
Identify the fallacy in a real argument and turn it into a point of information or a line of rebuttal.
Write "This House" motions with clash clear enough on first reading for four teams to find their own ground.
Practise your prep and your analysis. Take a motion, give yourself fifteen minutes, and map the burdens and the stakeholders. Then build one argument in depth. The drills below give each step a structure.
An extension is the new material a closing team brings: a fresh argument, a deeper mechanism or a new stakeholder that the opening team did not cover. Judges rank closing teams largely on how strong and distinct their extension is.
Spend the first few minutes working out what each side has to prove and who the motion affects, then pick your strongest arguments and split them with your partner. Burden Identification and Stakeholder Mapping train exactly that.
Yes. Most drills let you enter your own motion, so you can practise on motions from past tournaments or ones your society has set.