@pipeworx/legislation-uk
Connect: https://pipeworx.io/mcp — every tool in the catalog, including @pipeworx/legislation-uk’s. Install: one-click buttons
Connect to just the @pipeworx/legislation-uk pack
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/legislation-uk/mcp — only @pipeworx/legislation-uk’s own tools, nothing else in the catalog.
No MCP client? Skip the connection: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs {"query":"..."} to find a tool below, GET /v1/tools/<name> for its schema, POST the same URL with arguments for the data — see For AI agents.
Tools: 6
UK legislation from legislation.gov.uk — the official database of UK Acts and statutory instruments. Search for legislation, read its metadata, read the actual text of an Act or of one section in the version you choose (as amended, as enacted, or as it stood on a date), see what has amended it (or what it amends), and read the plain-language Explanatory Notes.
Covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: ukpga (UK Public General Acts), uksi (UK Statutory Instruments), asp (Acts of the Scottish Parliament), anaw/asc (Wales), nia (Northern Ireland Acts), ukla (UK Local Acts).
Tools
| Tool | What it returns |
|---|---|
search_uk_legislation | Search by title words (and optional year) → matching Acts/instruments with full-text URLs. type is optional — an exact code, a plain category ("act", "si", "ssi"), or omit it to default to ukpga. (Renamed from search_legislation — the old name still resolves.) |
get_legislation | Metadata for one Act/instrument by type + year + number: title, status, extent, enactment date, full-text URL |
get_legislation_section | The actual text of ONE section — e.g. section 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (ukpga/2018/12) — without paying for the whole statute. Takes as_at (or version) for a point-in-time date. |
get_legislation_text | The text of a whole Act/instrument, byte-bounded: large Acts are truncated with an explicit note pointing at the section-level tool. Takes as_at (or version). |
legislation_amendments | What has amended this legislation (direction: "affected", default) or what it amends (direction: "affecting") — amending/amended instrument, affected/affecting provisions, change type, whether applied, commencement date. Paged at 50 — always states total_results/total_pages. |
get_explanatory_notes | Plain-language commentary written by the responsible government department, explaining what a section is meant to do. NOT part of the law. Pass section for one section’s commentary, or omit for an overview + table of contents. |
Versions (the trap)
UK legislation exists in point-in-time versions that differ in substance, not cosmetics: the text as enacted and the text as amended at a date. Section 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 refers to “the GDPR” as enacted and “the UK GDPR” as it stands today. The text tools take a version argument — "current" (default), "enacted", or a YYYY-MM-DD date — or the equivalent as_at: "YYYY-MM-DD" alias, and every response states which version it served (version_valid_from) and the date that version took effect. Repealed/omitted words appear as runs of dots, exactly as legislation.gov.uk renders them.
Section numbering also differs between versions: a section inserted by amendment does not exist in the enacted text, so a section_not_found for one version may still exist in another.
legislation.gov.uk serves the nearest EARLIER version silently when nothing changed on the exact date you asked for — the URL and Content-Location header both echo the date you requested even though the served text is older. The only place the real served date shows up is the document’s own version metadata, which is why version_valid_from is on every response and a version_note explains the gap whenever as_at and version_valid_from differ.
Amendments are paged at 50, never the total
legislation_amendments hits /changes/{affected|affecting}/{type}/{year}/{number}/data.feed, an Atom feed capped at 50 entries per page. The Data Protection Act 2018 alone has 2,271+ recorded effects across 46 pages — every response carries total_results, total_pages, page, and next_page so a caller never mistakes one page for the whole change history.
Explanatory Notes have no XML — and no single page shape
data.xml 404s for /notes; only HTML exists, and legislation.gov.uk uses two different templates depending on the Act’s age. Older Acts (e.g. Equality Act 2010) put the entire commentary — every section’s notes — on one HTML page. Newer Acts (e.g. Data Protection Act 2018) serve only a “view PDF” stub at /notes; the real content sits under /notes/contents, split into numbered “divisions” (chapters), with per-section commentary living in whichever division is titled “Commentary on provisions of Act”. get_explanatory_notes tries the flat page first and falls back to locating that division. Not every Act has notes at all (Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts never get them), and not every section gets its own paragraph — some are grouped or unremarked.
Auth
None. legislation.gov.uk is keyless and free.
Data sources
- legislation.gov.uk — full text as CLML XML at
/{type}/{year}/{number}/data.xml, section-level at/{type}/{year}/{number}/section/{n}/data.xml, versioned via/enactedor/{date}path segments; search via the Atom feed at/{type}/data.feed; amendments via the Atom feed at/changes/{affected|affecting}/{type}/{year}/{number}/data.feed; Explanatory Notes as HTML at/{type}/{year}/{number}/notes(and/notes/contentsfor larger, division-split Acts).
Tools
- search_uk_legislation — Search UK legislation by title words (and optional year), returning matching Acts/instruments with their full-text URLs.
- get_legislation — Get metadata for one specific piece of UK legislation by type + year + number (e.g. ukpga/2010/15 = Equality Act 2010).
- get_legislation_section — Read the actual WORDS of one section of a UK Act or statutory instrument — “what does section 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 say”, “quote section 1 of the Human Rights Act”, “text of s.170 DPA 2018
- get_legislation_text — Read the text of a whole UK Act or statutory instrument — the body of the law rather than a catalogue entry. Use for short instruments and for reading an Act end to end; for one provision prefer get_l
- legislation_amendments — What has amended this UK Act or instrument, and (in the other direction) what this legislation itself amends — “what has changed the Data Protection Act 2018”, “has section 13A been amended”, “what do
- get_explanatory_notes — Read the Explanatory Notes for a UK Act — plain-language commentary written by the government department responsible, explaining what a section is meant to do and why. NOT part of the law and not endo
Tools
get_explanatory_notes— Read the Explanatory Notes for a UK Act — plain-language commentary written by the government department responsible, explaining what a section is meant to do and why. NOT part of the law and not endoget_legislation— Get metadata for one specific piece of UK legislation by type + year + number (e.g. ukpga/2010/15 = Equality Act 2010).get_legislation_section— Read the actual WORDS of one section of a UK Act or statutory instrument — what does section 5 of the Data Protection Act 2018 say , quote section 1 of the Human Rights Act , text of s.170 DPA 2018 .get_legislation_text— Read the text of a whole UK Act or statutory instrument — the body of the law rather than a catalogue entry. Use for short instruments and for reading an Act end to end; for one provision prefer get_llegislation_amendments— What has amended this UK Act or instrument, and (in the other direction) what this legislation itself amends — what has changed the Data Protection Act 2018 , has section 13A been amended , what doessearch_uk_legislation— Search UK legislation by title words (and optional year), returning matching Acts/instruments with their full-text URLs.