Article left on stage following act? (5)
I believe the answer is:
legal
'following act?' is the definition.
(acting in accordance with parliamentary acts)
'article left on stage' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'a' (indefinite article).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'stage' becomes 'leg' ('leg' can be a synonym of 'stage'**).
'a'+'l'='al'
'al' after 'leg' is 'LEGAL'.
(Other definitions for legal that I've seen before include "Authorised" , "right" , "Referring to the law" , "It's acceptable" , "Like some tender" .)