ETVT the power exterted by the lords is now too great for a unelected body Flashcards
They arent democratic and 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.
Because they are a unelected body the Lords tend to feel as if they do not have a mandate to challenge the government, this limits their confidence and therefore power.
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.
They have too much legisaltive power
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.
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.
They are weak over legislation
Financial privilege refers to the special right of the house of commons to decide public taxes and public spending, the commons can use this to overrule any House of Lords proposal that has financial or cost implications.
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.
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 assert the supremacy of the elected house of commons and assure the Lords of very little power, the Lords as a result are only able to delay bills for 1 year before they are passed.
This has only taking place 4 times, including the Hunting Act 2004 and Sexual offences Act 2000.
In 2017 the House of Lords made 2 amendments to the EU withdrawal bill, the Brexit Secretary David Davis however said the government would not accept either amendment, both were defeated in the commons and therefore the original bill was sent back to the Lords, the Lords backed down the second amendment and the bill was passed.
