Evaluate The View That In Practice The House Of Lords Exerts More Influence Than The House Of Commons (30)

AGREE 1 (LEGISLATION)

The government can be defeated in the HoL even when the government has a large majority.

Boris Johnson was defeated just 4 times in the House of Commons but 243 times in the House of Lords

DISAGREE 1 (LEGISLATION)

The parliament acts and the Salisbury convention have limited the Lord’s power in relation to legislation

Salisbury convention means that the Lords shouldn’t block any bill that is mentioned in the governments manifesto.

The parliament acts reduced how long the lords can delay legislation they can only delay legislation for 1 year.

The Sexual Offences Act 2000 was passed despite opposition from the lords.

AGREE 2 (SCRUTINY)

The House of lords plays a crucial role in scrutinising legislation as they can offer amendments to improve and fix bills.

the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act shows how the Lords can improve legislation through detailed scrutiny. The government accepted 64 lord’s amendments to the bill.

DISAGREE 2 (SCRUTINY)

The House of commons can be seen as providing effective scrutiny in a number of ways including select committees, PMQs and debates

PMQs enables the leader of the opposition, the leader of the third largest party and backbenchers to direct questions at the PM every week

In May 2024 Starmer used his first few questions in PMQs to effectively scrutinise the Safety of Rwanda Bill which he called a ‘gimmick’ rather than an effective policy.

debates

January 2024, Conservative Backbencher David Davis led a Backbench Business

Committee debate on Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Provision and Funding in the House of Common

AGREE 3 (REPRESENTATION)

lords can represent issues that underrepresented in the commons.

Baroness Lawrence expert on race issues after the murder of her son she campaigned for justice and brough attention to racism and inequality within the criminal justice system

Baroness Grey Thompson advocates for disability rights.

DISAGREE 3 (REPRESENTATION)

Relatively small size of most constituencies results in effective representation of local interests and a strong link between the constituency on the MP, unlike members of Lords who are unelected and don’t represent specific constituencies.

MPs in Yorkshire have campaigned for better flood defences after severe local flooding, responding to pressure from constituents affected by the damage.