BP debate format explained

British Parliamentary (BP) is the format used at the World Universities Debating Championship (Worlds), the European Universities Debating Championship, and most university tournaments. If you debate at university, you will almost certainly debate BP.

It's a hard format. You defend a side you didn't choose and answer arguments you didn't prepare for. You also compete against the team on your own side, which new debaters often find strange.

The basics

A BP round has four teams of two. Two teams are on Government, which supports the motion. Two are on Opposition, which opposes it.

• Opening Government (OG) speaks first and third. It sets up the debate.
• Opening Opposition (OO) speaks second and fourth. It answers OG and builds its own case.
• Closing Government (CG) speaks fifth and seventh. It agrees with OG but has to bring new material.
• Closing Opposition (CO) speaks sixth and eighth. It agrees with OO but has to bring new material.

Every speech is seven minutes, so the eight speeches alone take 56 minutes. Teams get 15 minutes of prep once the motion is announced. Add the judges' decision and feedback, and a round takes well over an hour.

Speech order

1. Prime Minister (OG). Defines the motion if it needs defining, sets the framing, and gives OG's case, usually two or three arguments.
2. Leader of the Opposition (OO). Rebuts the Prime Minister and builds OO's case. It's the first speech which has to do both.
3. Deputy Prime Minister (OG). Rebuilds OG's case against the Leader of the Opposition, rebuts OO, and often adds OG's last argument or takes the existing ones further.
4. Deputy Leader of the Opposition (OO). The same job for OO.
5. Member of Government (CG). Rebuts, then brings CG's extension: new material OG didn't run which supports Government.
6. Member of the Opposition (CO). The same for CO.
7. Government Whip (CG). Sums up the round from Government's side, answers CO, and explains why CG's extension matters most.
8. Opposition Whip (CO). The last speech of the round. The same job for Opposition.

Whips shouldn't bring new arguments. They can add new responses and new analysis on arguments already in the round. The whip speech lesson covers how to use those seven minutes.

Points of information (POIs)

During a speech, anyone on the other side of the motion can stand and offer a point of information. The speaker can accept it or decline it. If they accept, you get about 15 seconds to ask a question or make a point, then the speaker answers and carries on.

• POIs can only be offered in the middle five minutes of a speech. The first and last minute are protected time.
• You can only offer POIs to the other side. Government can't offer one to Government.
• Speakers are expected to take one or two. Taking none usually costs you with the judge.
• A good POI is short and points at a flaw. A bad one is a speech of its own.

POIs matter even when they're declined. Opening teams finish speaking halfway through the round, and offering good POIs is how they stay part of it.

The extension

New debaters often find this part of BP confusing.

CG is on OG's side and CO is on OO's side. But a closing team is ranked against its own opening as well as against the other side, and to beat your opening you need to say something it didn't. That's the extension: new material which takes the debate somewhere opening didn't go.

Extensions which work:

• a group of people opening didn't discuss, or mentioned only in passing
• a second-order effect opening didn't trace
• a different mechanism for the same conclusion
• deeper analysis of an existing clash which changes how it resolves

What doesn't count:

• opening's arguments in your own words
• a new example for one of opening's arguments
• more rebuttal with nothing constructive of your own
• agreeing loudly with opening

Finding an extension in 15 minutes is a skill of its own. The lesson on finding an extension has methods you can practise.

How teams are ranked

The judge, or the panel, ranks the four teams from first to fourth. There are no ties.

• 1st: 3 points
• 2nd: 2 points
• 3rd: 1 point
• 4th: 0 points

Teams add up their points across the inrounds, and the top teams break to the outrounds. In outrounds there's no full ranking: the top two teams in each room go through. How many points you need to break depends on the size of the tournament and how many teams it breaks.

Each speaker also gets a speaker score. Most tournaments use a 50 to 100 scale, and an average speech sits around 75. Speaker scores decide individual awards, and many tournaments use them to separate teams on the same points.

How judges decide

Judges rank teams on the arguments which survived the round. The questions they ask:

• Whose arguments were best developed?
• Who engaged best with the other teams?
• Who gave the judge the plainest reason to rank them first?
• For closing teams: was the extension new, and did it matter?

A pattern which surprises new debaters: OG makes a solid case, CG brings a thinner extension but weighs it well against everything else in the round, and CG ranks above OG. The weighing is what resolved the round. It's why weighing is worth practising before anything BP-specific.

Each position

Opening Government. Set the debate up so cleanly that CG has to work inside your framing. Two strong arguments beat three thin ones.

Opening Opposition. Split your time between rebuttal and your own case. If you only rebut, you have nothing of your own. If you only build, you haven't answered OG.

Closing Government. Your extension decides your rank. If it isn't plainly different from OG's case, you'll rank below them even with better rebuttal. Spend most of your prep on the extension.

Closing Opposition. The same as CG, with one advantage: you give the last speech of the round. A good whip speech gets to tell the judge what the whole debate was about.

Where to start

If you're new, start with the Foundations track: how to build an argument, how to take one apart, and how to weigh two against each other. Every speech in BP needs those. The Advanced track then covers the BP-specific work: extensions, whip speeches, framing and particular kinds of motion. The lessons are free.