I was a civil servant working on legislation for a couple of years, and here is why I treat the legislative route as something which needs to be taken with a pinch of salt...
It is the State Opening of Parliament on 11 May. No time to legislate before then, and a normal Parliamentary process for a Bill can take anything from six to twelve months, in addition to a pre-legislative timescale, including consultation and drafting which can take anything from 12-24 months.
Now it may be the case that a Bill is already drafted - Government departments have literally hundreds of legislative proposals 'ready to go', but usually there isn't parliamentary time to bring them into effect.
Even in this case the Government only controls the timetable of the Commons, not the Lords, meaning that if individual Lords wish to filibuster, delay or amend legislation, there is little Government can do (as this isn't a Bill relating to taxation). So immediately I think whether there are any Peers who could be influenced by the six clubs to delay or amend legislation? It isn't beyond the realms of possibility.
All in all, the ESL could be in place before legislation is passed, especially if the Government lose focus on this issue, or if the protests wane.
The best things to do would be for posters to absolutely deluge Parliamentarians, especially Select Committees, and keep up the pressure.
Please write to the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee here:
cmscom@parliament.uk
There is an equivalent Lords Committee, the Communications Committtee, which can be contacted here:
holcommunications@parliament.uk
I do know from experience that emails can make a difference. The average number of public responses to a Government consultation is only TWENTY SEVEN. Even hundreds of emails can influence policy. I've written. Please consider doing so too.