Hansard (Parliamentary Debates)

The text of many parliamentary debates (also known as Hansard or the Official Report) can be accessed online for free, or via paid subscription services.

Before 1803 parliamentary debates were unofficial and as such the records that exist are incomplete and collected from various private sources. Hansard (the official record of debates) was introduced in 1803, but it remained a selective record of debates until it became the Official Report in 1909.

More information about the history of parliamentary debates and Hansard can be found in the House of Commons factsheet.

House of Commons and House of Lords Debates

• Hansard, 1803-present
  via Parliament UK (Free service, text of debates)

• Hansard, 1803-2005
  via Historic Hansard (Legacy site, free service, text of debates)
  Also available through UK Parliamentary Papers (Subscription service, available in universities and large reference libraries, text of debates)

• Hansard, 1803-2019
  via Hansard at Huddersfield (Free service, combines textual analysis techniques with interactive visualisations to allow searching for patterns in Hansard)

• Parliamentary Register, 1774-1805
  via UK Parliamentary Papers (Subscription service, available in universities and large reference libraries, text of debates)

• Chandler’s History and Proceedings, 1660-1739
  via British History Online (Free service, text of debates)
  Also available through ProQuest’s UK Parliamentary Papers (Subscription service, available in universities and large reference libraries, text of debates)

• Townshend’s Historical Collections, 1589-1601
  via British History Online (Free service, text of debates)

• Sir Simonds d’Ewe’s Journal of all the Parliaments, 1559-1601
  via British History Online (Free service, text of debates)

• Cobbett’s Parliamentary History of England, 1066-1803
  via Digital Bodleian (Free service, digital image of a published work).

House of Commons only

• Hansard (Standing/General Committee), 1997-present
  via Parliament UK (Free service, text of debates)

• Grey’s Debates, 1667-1694
  via British History Online (Free service, text of debates)

• Burton’s Parliamentary Diary, 1653-1659
  via British History Online (Free service, text of debates)

Houses of Parliament Hansard as XML

• House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard, 1803-2004
  via Hansard Archive, Parliament UK (zipped xml files available to anyone for development purposes)

• Standing/General Committee Hansard, 1948-2005
  via Hansard Archive, Parliament UK (zipped xml files available to anyone for development purposes)

Accessing parliamentary debates offline

The Parliamentary Archives holds printed copies of:

• A selection of early parliamentary debates
• Hansard from 1803 onwards

Universities and large reference libraries are also likely to hold printed copies of parliamentary debates/Hansard.