ETVT the House of Lords is more effective at fulfiling its functions than parliament Flashcards
Legislation THEY ARE
Party discipline in the Lords is weaker than it is in the commons, this means that it is more independent. Approximately ¼ of the lords are cross benchers, peers are able to express their own views, moreover since the removal of most hereditary peers in 1999, the lords have been far more willing to challenge the government.
In December 2020 the Lords forced the government to U-turn over the internal markets bill to protect the rights of the devolved parliaments.
Furthermore in 2018 the government lost 14 of the 16 divisions on amendments to the EU withdrawal bill in the Lords.
The lords in 2015 voted against a government proposal to cut the payments to tax credits, the government was forced as a result to concede defeat.
Forest privatisation, the public bodies bill 2010 originally had provisions to allow the sale of land managed by the forestry commission, Lords from both the conservative and the lib Dems forced the government to abolish such provisions.
Legislation they ARE NOT
The legal restraints on the lords remain, as demonstrated by the commons overturning various lords amendments to legislation.
The parliament act 1949 makes the lords less powerful than the commons because it prevents them from vetoing legislation and instead they can only delay for maximum 1 year.
In 2016 the lords rebelled over the Dubs amendment, which sought to compel the government to accept its ‘fair share’ of children from Syria, however in January 2020 this amendment was overturned by the commons.
The lords attempted to make 14 amendments to the Legal aid bill, 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. COALITION GOVERNMENT.
The Lords attempted to make 7 amendments to the welfare reform bill 2012, although all amendments were defeated by the commons.
The Salisbury convention suggests that the Lords cannot defeat measures that are outlined in the governments election manifesto.
Representation THEY ARE
The lords represents areas of expertise outside of politics, in areas such as medicine, law business, arts, science sports and education, which may be lacking in the commons.
Whilst they may not be the most effective at representing they help provide important expertise for a number of bills.
Baroness Altman speaks on behalf on pensioners as the former Director general of Saga and Baroness Bakewell as an investigative journalist, bring specialism to the lords.
Lord Adebowale was chief executive of the drugs charity ‘Turning point’, and baroness Lawrence specialises in institutional racism.
Lord Walton was the former president of the British medical association
Despite the upper chamber being unelected and not representative of public choice, you could argue the lords does a better job at correcting representational deficits.
Representation THEY ARE NOT
The commons is a elected body, this allows for them to represent their constituents, they can do this by representing their views and causes in parliament.
It can raise such issues at debates, PMQs and emergency questions.
Tory MPs including Workington Mark Jenkinson, accused Labour of “failing workers in our industrial heartlands and denying more than 500 well-paid jobs in Cumbria” and backed plans to open the West Cumbria coal mine.
Boris and Heathrow, Boris Johnson has been a MP for Uxbridge since 2015 and 2018 he committed to opposing the expansion of Heathrow as this would directly effect his constituents in Uxbridge.
533 constituencies with a average population size of 73,000 people, the FPTP system means that constituency representation in the commons is very strong.
The structure of the Lords works against any increases in representation from women and ethnic minorities, despite the House of Lords Act 1999, hereditary peers automatically pass to their first born son, a position for which the first female was only chosen for in 2014, who now only make up 14% of the Lords.
Representation in the commons is much better, Labour in 2019 elected 51% MPs for the first time because of AWS, something that wouldn’t be possible in the lords, 2019 parliament was most diverse in history 220 women were elected and 1/10 MPs were of ethnic minority background, oppose to 1/40 10 years prior.
