Preview

House of Lords- Require a Reform?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3936 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
House of Lords- Require a Reform?
QUESTION

“…reform of the House of Lords remains unfinished business. There are still 92 hereditary peers sitting in the Lords. But ending the anomaly, in the Government’s view, does not go far enough to ensure that Britain’s second chamber is fit to meet the demands and expectations of this century. The legitimacy and authority of the second chamber continued to be called into question”

The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw, former leader of the House of Commons, The House of Lords: Reform, February 2007

In recent years there have been many attempts to reform the House of Lords. Critically analyse this situation with view of the reforms that have already taken place, and how this will affect the Westminster parliament

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Statutes
Acts of Union 1707 & 1800
Bill of Rights 1689
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 Sect 2, 23 & 61
House of Lords Act 1999 Sect 1, 2(1) & (2)
Life Peerages Act 1958 Sect 1
Magna Carta
Parliamentary Act 1911 Sect 1 & 2
Parliamentary Act 1949 Sect 1
Peerage Act 1963 Sect 1, 4 & 6
Reform Act 1831

ANSWER

Two houses reside within the courts of the Parliament, namely the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Lords is known as the Upper House or the Second Chamber of Parliament of the United Kingdom and it plays a vital role in governing the government. Within the Parliament, both houses have the duty to scrutinise, make and amend law; however with the passing of time the House of Lords had had many reforms that lead to their decrement in power. Currently in the House of Commons, elected representatives of political parties sit in and is more superior compared to the House of Lords, where appointed and a marginal number of hereditary peers by Her Royal Majesty, the Queen sit in.

History of the Parliament - Historical Timeline of reforms in the Lords

Countless

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the House of Commons there are many parties all fighting individually for control of the house, and to be in power and govern the land of the UK. To win the election and do this a party or coalition of parties needs a 326 majority to be able to form a government. This system creates a dominance in the house of commons if that majority is achieved sufficiently, as with Tony Blair’s landslide in 1997 where he had over a 150 seat majority, it is this kind of one party dominance I am going to be discussing in this essay and whether or not it limits parliaments main function to represent constituents and pass laws which benefit them.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another way in which the government’s power could be seen to be reduced is the reform of the House of Lords. This is because there is speculation over whether after enforcing Stage 1 of the reform (the removal of hereditary peers from the House of Lords, other than 92) the process should…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    United Kingdom changing radically with Labour’s landslide victory , the greatest since 1945. Led by Tony Blair, the party promised an ambitious programme of constitutional reforms which they themselves claimed would lead to “the most ambitious and far reaching changes to the constitution undertaken by any government in this century” (Hazell, Sinclair, 1999, p42)These reforms were also pioneered by Gordon Brown when he became Blair’s successor in 2007. While some of these amendments were successfully implemented others were abandoned or were watered down greatly. Also, the planned reversal of many of these reforms and other amendments made by the recent coalition Government must also be deliberated , however, as the coalition Government has only been in in power two years it is harder to see if they have had any real effect yet . Therefore this essay will focus on the constitutional reforms made by New Labour and will discuss that while they have made a difference, the impact has been limited and far less radical than they first proposed.…

    • 1694 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The House of Commons has many functions including those of passing effective legislation, representing the views of the people they represent and holding the government to account to ensure that all decisions made are based purely upon the desire to benefit the public and to scrutinise all the actions of the executive.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With democracy on the incline and other countries catching up to where the UK once lead it can be argued that parliament does not carry out its functions adequately. Many would say there are not enough checks and balances on the government to insure its parliament is run legitimately being argued that a cross on a ballot paper every four years is hardly a true expression of our will. Current circumstances have lead to his enquiry of the people, most significantly the freedom of information act 2000 introduced by Blair’s government allowing transparency and putting the government under some scrutiny resulted in the daily telegraphy uncovering the expense scandal, including the duck house this exploitation of the government sparked an unanimous felling of not only anger but also disappointment bringing the questioning of the effectiveness of parliament. However not all of parliament can be looked upon in negative light, parliament can be seen as efficient and it is unfair to claim that “none” of its functions are adequate because the surely there would be a collapse in parliament and government.…

    • 1616 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Exam Question and Answer

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    * According to the extract, life peers sit in the House of Lords. They sit in the House of Lords for life and are appointed by the Prime Minister by recommendations from his/her party as well as the opposition. The Life peerages Act of 1958 set the conditions for Life peers to be appointed and examples include Lord Sugar and Lord Mandleson. Life peers make up the majority of the House of Lords after the House of Lords reform act of 1999 removed the hereditary peers from the House of Lords.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional relic. It has been rendered obsolete, in particular, by the supremacy of EU law and the UK’s statutory recognition of human rights. We should no longer talk about this irrelevant doctrine.’…

    • 793 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parliament is designed to hold the executive accountable; therefore it goes about this by various means of government scrutiny, such as Prime Minister’s Question Time. In addition, Parliament is expected to perform a legislative function, creating the process of a bill becoming a law after undergoing many stages between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Finally, Parliament is also required to be representative of the nation, with constituencies creating a strong local link between the electorate and their MP.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1999 Labour reformed the House of Lords; Labour removed 600 hereditary peers and reduced it to only 92 hereditary Lords in the House of Lords. However, the labor government did propose a system of “elected peers”, where the public could choose peers to sit in the House of Lords. This proposal was never fully implemented into the UK constitution. Until this proposal is full entrenched it is argued that the Lords are not democratically legitimate as all policy making institutions must have legitimacy. Therefore, there is much that can be done towards constitutional reform.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. Built Baptist Church in Rhode Island; complete freedom of religion and shelter for Jews, Catholics, and Quakers…

    • 2149 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Knife Crime Uk

    • 6550 Words
    • 27 Pages

    Standard Notes are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise others.…

    • 6550 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The UK currently has a system of Parliament whereby there are two chambers who can pass or reject (or, in the House of Lords just delay) bills. The House of Commons is a fully elected chamber and it is made up of representatives from different areas in the United Kingdom. However, the House of Lords is made up of people who have earned the right of being a Lord through merit. They also have a number of hereditary peers (although there will no longer be any hereditary peers appointed. There have been many calls to make the House of Lords into an elected chamber as people say that the fact that it is unelected reduces the democracy of the United Kingdom and that it is unfair to have an unelected as the peers may not actually represent the views of the people.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The mechanisms placed in the House of Commons to ensure its effectiveness are vital to the democracy and overall quality of governing within the UK. Whilst government domination proves to be the key hindrance affecting the quality of the Commons’ work, the checks and balances and opportunities to scrutinise produce an effective chamber in regards to the most important of its functions.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For how long will English constituencies and English Honourable members tolerate...at least 119 Honourable Members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising an important, and probably often decisive, effect on English politics while they themselves have no say in the same matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The word parliament derives from a word loosely translated as ‘to talk’ or ‘to deliberate’. The UK Parliament consists officially of the two Houses of Parliament: the Lords and the Commons and the monarch, which by convention, delegates his or her authority to a group of ministers known as the executive. The role of parliament is mainly to legislate and to govern the United Kingdom through elected representatives. However the executive has a special role over the legislatures and it has been argued that the UK Parliament has become increasingly dominated by the executive.…

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays