paragraph 2: house of lords Flashcards
1) the house of lords can be said to provide effective scrutiny as…
the party whip is considerably weaker and less influential meaning that they are freer from party control and can focus more on scrutinising the executive
2) this is because…
once a Lord is appointed they hold that position for life and do not need to stand for re election every 5 years
meaning that they are not under as much pressure to obey the whip and align with their party because their careers are not on the line and do not depend on obedience
3) therefore…
they can operate more freely and scrutinise without fear of the consequences on their career
which could explain why the Labour government from 1999 to 2010 suffered more than 450 defeats in the Lords
4) the upper house is also becoming more independent and willing to oppose the government…
which could because because of the Blair reforms including the removal of hereditary peers in 1999 which has made them more legitimate and democratic so as a result they feel more confident in scrutinising the executive
5) for example…
in 2015 the Lords votes to delay planned cuts to tax credits which raised a constitutional issue because tax credits are a financial issue that the Lords should not be involved in
however, they still voted to delay the legislation and the government decided to revise the cuts and listen to the concerns of the Lords
this illustrates just how effective the House of Lords as part of parliament can be in scrutinising the executive
1) having said that, the House of Lords tends to back down…
as they are not democratically legitimate and want to avoid conflict with the elected government
2) this was seen in 2017…
when after detailed scrutiny, they voted on amendments to the EU bill that had previously been voted down in the Commons regarding the residency rights of EU citizens in the UK and a pledge to ensure that parliament has a vote on the final Brexit deal
however, they eventually backed down and the bill was passed without the amendments as many Lords felt that they did have the right to pressure the government in such a way
3) other limits on the Lords powers of scrutiny include..
the Salisbury Convention that states that the Lords cannot oppose policies included in the governments manifesto as that government has the mandate to implement those policies following the win of a general election
4) moreover, the government can usually use its majority to…
overturn critical Lords amendments and if the upper house maintains its opposition then the executive can use the Parliament Act to force a bill through
this act was used three times by the Blair government including in 2004 regarding the ban in hunting with dogs
5) these limitations…
prevent the Lords from being an effective check on the executive which limits parliament’s ability to scrutinise the executive as a whole
