ETVT that the Lords is in need of reform Flashcards
They arent democratic or legit
The House of Lords has no popular elected members, with the only elections held being by-elections to elect new hereditary peers, whilst there is now far less of them, 92 peers remain hereditary, the rest are either life peers or lord spirituals with no democratic legitimacy.
Life Peerages Act 1958 meant that peers are now able to be appointed for life and it wasn’t until 2014 that they could be removed if they committed a serious criminal offence.
Boris Johnsons appointed Peter Cruddas to the lords in 2020, where he would remain for life.
Jeffrey Archer remains in the Lords despite being imprisoned for four years for perjury.
They have expertise instead
However, while they may have no democratic legitimacy they provide a level of expert advice and scrutiny to the government, most MPs are now appointed to the Lords because they can offer distinct expertise on a area of public policy.
Lord Lisvane is a former Clerk of the commons and a expert on constitutional issues, whilst Lord Dannatt is a former chief of the general staff and a expert in military matters.
Lord Dannatt spoke eight times on the Armed forces bill and 24 times on the overseas operations bill in 2021 thereby helping scrutiny on areas in which he is an expert.
They are able to specialise unlike in the commons where MPs have to represent their constituents and are instead generalists, Lord Dannatt’s last ten contributions in the Lords have been on military and security matters.
This means that the Lords can have a more profound impact on legislation and policy with the experience they carry, meaning they are not too powerful despite a failure of democratic legitimacy.
There is corruption present in appointments
There is a growing relationship between large political donors and the nominations in the Lords.
In 2007 Tony Blair was interviewed twice by the police during the Cash of Hours Scandal where it was alleged that Labour donors had been placed in the Lords.
Recently in 2020 Lord Cruddas was placed in the Lords after donating significant sums to the conservative party that could amount up to 5,000,000 pounds, In 2013 BBC news reported a £1,000,000 donation and in 2019 Sky News reported Cruddas donated £50,000 to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign. The House of Lords appointments commission advised that it could not support his nomination, Johnsons became the first PM ever to ignore such recommendation.
This undermines the role it plays in the political process.
In addition many lords simply do not play a useful role in the House, for example since joining the Lords in 2009 Lord Sugar has voted in just 2% of divisions and has spoken just 63 times.
Between 2010 and 2015 62 peers claimed £360,000 in expenses despite not voting in a single division.
Corruption is monitored and representation is good
However since 2000 there has been a independent house of lords commission that has been responsible for both vetting party nominations and also for appointing nonpartisan crossbench peers who posses independence of thought and neutrality.
There are many areas where appointments and members of the lords mean it is far more descriptively representative.
PPERA 2000 Regulatory measures increase transparency of party donations and the house of lords appointments commission regulates appointments.
In March 2006, several men nominated for life peerages by then Prime Minister Tony Blair were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
For example, 11% of Lords have a declared disability compared to 0.76% in the Commons. Much of the Lord’s opposition to the Bedroom Tax in 2012 was driven by vocal interventions from these members. In addition, there are 29 MPs from an ethnic minority background compared to 63 Lords.
They have to little power to contest the government
The House of lords is a very ineffective chamber and simply does not have the power to hold the executive and the commons to account.
Parliament Act 1949 means that Lords can only delay laws for one year.
Lords are limited through conventions such as the Salisbury convention which states that the lords cannot reject a bill that was in a government manifesto, a government therefore with a clear parliamentary majority will not struggle to pass its manifesto promises in the commons.
Financial privilege, the lords attempted to make 14 amendments to the Legal aid bill 2012, only a few were accepted and most were rejected on the grounds that the bill was primarily a financial measure on which the commons could overrule the lords.
They have sufficient power for a unelected chamber
Although governments can be regularly defeated by a strong and defiant House of Lords.
During the committee stage of a bill, peers can debate proposed legislation and table proposed amendments, ALL bills must pass through 3 readings and a committee stage if it is passed as law.
The agriculture bill in 2020 was considered by the lords for 96 hours.
In 2015 the Lords controversially voted to delay Tax credit cuts by the government.
Since Boris became PM he was defeated in the commons on only 3 occasions, although in the Lords he was defeated on 243 separate occasions, in 2022 the Lords made 14 amendments to the Police, Crime and sentencing Bill.
Blair suffered 4 house of commons defeats in his time, and none until 2005, in the 05-06 session alone the government was defeated 62 times in the lords, much harder to control, as they have no majority in the lords and therefore cant dominate.
