Are the Commons or the Lords more powerful

Question 1

What are 4 reasons the commons are more powerful than the lords?

Answer 1

• Commons is elected giving it democratic legitimacy whereas the Lords is unelected, unaccountable and unrepresentative
• The commons represents the public politically and is voted at general elections according to manifestos, this does not happen with the lords, commons is more diverse and so more representative than ever
• The commons is considered the important chamber in term of passing the most vital legislation, the lords tend to deal with secondary legislation. Salisbury conventions ,cannot oppose finance bills e.g hunting with dogs act 2004
• Most ministers come from commons and accountability of ministers is conducted mostly by the commons. e.g scrutiny, debates question time, committees. The leader of the opposition can bring down the whole government through a vote of no confidence

Question 2

What are 4 reasons the Lords are more powerful than the commons?

Answer 2

• Removal of hereditary peers and introduction of life peers has improved the quality of the Lords. They are now selected on a meritocratic basis and are committed to the parliamentary process
• Lords has greater expertise now, mostly former cabinet members /held senior state positions so they have a good understanding of how the government works - derive from other areas of life e,g business/sport - bringing other expertise into Parliament. Bishops bring spiritual/moral element to Lords
• More independent than the commons, government does not have majority in the Lords. Weak whips and lords can rebel easily. Some are independents. Government experiences over 400 defeats from Lords between 1999-2006
• Widely believed Lords are better at revising bills than the commons, have delaying powers and do not have constituents - more time to spend on revising/debating legislation. Quality of debates in Lords are better