House of Lords

• Lord speaker - Woolsack
• 92 Hereditary peers
• The Lords debate policy, legislation and pass laws
• 26 of the members are archbishops and bishops of the church of England “lord spiritual”
• There is the royal throne, in the Lords, used for the king’s speech
• Life peers are appointed, mostly by the prime minister, but cannot pas their title to their children
• Division and arguments in the lords are settled by votes
• There are many non-party members (cross-benchers) that there cannot be a government majority
• Most work takes place in committees (legislative) however less significant to the Commons
• Proposed reforms:

  1. An all appointed second chamber
  2. An all elected second chamber
  3. Or a combination of the two
  4. Complete abolishment of the second chamber
• An all appointed chamber would allow people with special experience and expertise to be recruited to the legislative process
• An all elected chamber would be wholly democratic
• A partially elected chamber would be more democratic with advantages of knowledgeable appointed peers
• Exclusive powers:

  • examining secondary legislation
  • delaying primary legislation for up to one year
• 1911 Act: House of Lords powers were significantly reduced and they could not block legislation making the HoC more powerful
• 1949 Act: powers further reduced and lords could only delay primary legislation for up to one year
• Loss of financial privilege: Lords has lost its power to delay or amend money bills that deal with taxation and the training of money by governments
• Reasonable time convention: requires the Lords to consider government legislation in reasonable time
• Scrutiny and Accountability:

  • limited because nearly all senior ministers, especially Cabinet ministers, sit in the House of Commons
  • Many members who are experts in their field
  • During the ‘committee stage‘ of a bill members can propose amendments
• Experts: e.g. Sue Black is an anatomist and forensic anthropologist who played a leading role in many criminal trials and war crimes
• Backbenchers in the Lords: debating national issues gives opportunity to influence debate. Baroness Tami Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian, makes speeches and contributes to debate on issues in her field.
• Backbenchers in the Lords: The legislative process - little influence before 2010 however during 2010 - 2019 there was no secure single party so they had to take back bench opposition to legislature seriously. The gov does not have majority in the alford’s either
• Backbenchers in the Lords: Individuals - Lord Dannatt (cross bencher) is the UK’s most senior soldier lends his military knowledge and expertise on policy
• Backbenchers in the Lords: scrutiny of legislation - experience and knowledge is essential to improving legislation and ensuring minorities are protected.
• Backbenchers in the Lords: respresentative in the House of Lords - each gov has a representative who sits in the House of Lords in the form of a junior or senior minister which enables peers to call gov to account
• No constituency representation in the Lords only represents the interests of its own memebers.
• Representation of groups:

  • since the removal of the most of the (mainly) conservative hereditary peers in 200, no single party has an overall majority
  • no constituencies so can focus on societal issues
  • larger range of opinion as power of whips is weaker
  • non political backgrounds
• Social representation:

  • dominated by white males over 50
  • 62% of peers were privately educated when 6.5% of the UK fit in this bracket