Lords, its 3 roles and Peers

2019-21 number of legislative ammendments proposed

2,300+ (many accepted by the govt)

Plmtary ping-pong

• Scrutinise proposed legislation by proposing amendments to the HoC

  • Plmtary ping-pong can go on for a year before the HoC can override the HoL’s delaying of the bill

Example of ping-ponged bill

• Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2000 that equalised the age of consent

Secondary legislation scrutiny

• HoL secondary legislation scrutinising committee considers all secondary legislation and decides what proposals may cause concern

  • Also check for errors in wording and meaning with the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments

Legislative control over financial matters

• 1911 Act - Lords have no legislative control over financial matters

4 reason HoC often loses votes on legislation in HoL

1. No government majority

2. Weaker party discipline as peers have their position for life anyway

3. HoL more of a revising chamber so suggests amendments and presses HoC to justify its position on legislation

3 recent gov’t defeats in HoL

• 3rd Feb 2026 — 38 votes defeated proposal to insert clause into Children’s Wellbeing Bill that would force schools to ban use of phones during school day

• 6th Jan 2026 — 68 votes defeated proposal to insert clause into Sentencing Bill that would require Crown Court case sentencing remarks to be made available w/in 14 days of sentence being passed

• 28th Jan 2026 — 84 votes defeated proposal to require LA to give consent before child educated at home if ever previous engagement by social services

Importance of HoL defeat on public policy

• Lords essentially put pressure on gov’t to go further, esp with rise of Adolescence and Phone Free Education

  • Children and Wellbeing Bill — Lords wanted to force schools to ban children from using phones during day

  • Lords called for U16s to be banned from social media

• 2 amendments now have to be explicitly ruled out or included by gov’t

Lords as gov’t ministers

• Gov’t ministers must come from either House of Plmt but all Great Offices of State must come from HoC to remain accountable

  • BUT: Cameron was Foreign Sec in 2023 and Lord Carrington was Foreign Sec in 1982

4 examples of Lords appointed to join gov’t

1. Lord Timpson due to track record of supporting ex-offenders

2. Lord Adonis essentially escalated from Senior Advisor to Blair to Minister of Education and then Sec of State for Transport

3. Lord Jones director of CBI → Lord to be Minister for Trade and Investment

Expertise

• Advantage in scrutinising legislation as members are experts in their fields

  • Represent interests and causes in society

4 important aspects of committee stage of a bill (often carried out by Lords)

• Improving legislation

• Adding clauses to protect vulnerable minorities

• Clarifying meaning

• Removing ineffective sections

Controversial bills

• Scrutinsed more intensively

Number of defeats in the Lords (a record) for the 2020 Internal Market Bill

14

Scrutiny of the 2021-2 National and Borders Bill (pre-cursor to Rwanda bill)

• Lords inflicted several significant defeats on the govt on clauses that would have limited the rights of asylum seekers

• Pushed for stronger protections of vulnerable groups, including children and victims of trafficking, emphasising the need for a more humane approach to asylum policies

• Govt was forced to make multiple concessions in response to these oppositions and amendments

• Scrutinised by those with expertise in law, human rights and migration

  • Reflected the Lord’s increasing role in challenging controversial govt policies relating to human rights and international obligations

2021-2022 number of gov’t defeats in HoL

128

2024-2025 number of gov’t defeats in HoL

111

2010-20 - number of govt defeats from the Lords

400

1979-97 - number of govt defeats from the Lords

<200

% of Lords made up of crossbench peers

• 22%

2 recent important Peer-led committees

• COVID-19 committee

• Communications and Digital committee

Blocking legislation

• No veto powers so cannot block legislation

Limit to scrutiny

• The HoL lacks the means and methods to scrutinise actions beyond junior ministers

Representation of smaller parties

• Peers can represent small parties that struggle to win seats in the HoC

  • UKIP had 5 peers until 2019 when they became independent

Party majority in the Lords

• None, although there are lots of C peers

  • Better range of views and opinions

  • No worries about constituents or being re-elected

Expertise

• Expresses ‘national will’ when a national issue that surpasses party politics arises

  • Lords bring the moral/ethical dimension

Gender as of 2024 - number of men and women

• 560 men

• 239 women

Gender as of 2024 - number of L and C female peers

• 76 L

• 67 C

Av age as of 2024

71 ❤

Ethnicity — % of EM peers 2000 and 2018

• 2018 - 6% ethnic minority peers

• 2000 - 3% EM peers

2024 number of C peers /799

272

2024 number of L peers /799

185

2024 number of crossbench peers /799

184

2024 number of LD peers /799

77

2024 number of non-affiliated/other peers /799

81

4 ways HoL scrutinises Executive

1. Questions

2. Debates (responded to by gov’t minister at end)

3. Ministerial Statements

4. Consideration of Legislation

Questions

• Put by Peers to gov’t spokesperson during question times

• Can do Urgent Questions if agreed by Lord Speaker but called Private Notice Qs

Recent Private Notice Qs — 2nd Feb 2026

• Lord Alton of Liverpool post-Starmer meeting with President Xi

  • Asked about discussions about 🇨🇳’s HR records and perceived threat to 🇬🇧 national security

4 debates held in HoL on 12th Feb 2026

1. Party Political Donations

2. Counter-Extremism Strategy

3. Flour Milling Sector

4. Waste Crime

Ministerial Statements

• Gov’t statements made in HoL often by spokesperson (sometimes by Minister) and questions taken from Peers

10th Feb 2026 recent Ministerial Statement

• Baroness Smith of Basildon answered qs on behalf of gov’t relating to Ministerial Statement made in HoC about Ministerial Standards

13th Feb 2026 — HoL consideration of legislation

• Considered Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill in Committee

5 limitations to experience and specialist knowledge provided by HoL

1. Groups underrepresented — science, engineering (esp in HoC as well)

2. Peers will debate issues they have no specialist knowledge on

3. Busy careers → less time to spend in HoL

4. UNELECTED!

5. Professional expertise only stays up to date for 3 years so definitely defunct for lots of peers

5 controversies of the appointments process

1. Appointed as an honour, not to play a role in the legislature

2. Can pay your way in by donating to parties

3. Can be appointed by PM despite little to no outstanding merits

4. HOLAC and other bodies can be ignored by PM

5. Appointing people to be a Senior Cabinet minister suggests lack of democratic accountability

Lord Sugar — appointed to play role in legislature but treats Lords as a showpiece

• Appointed in 2009 as ‘Enterprise Champion’ for Brown

• Barely attends but has cultivated the ‘Lord Sugar’ brand and benefits off it

Lord Sugar — % of divisions voted in

1.68%

‘Cash for Honours’ under Blair

• People were nominated for honours by Blair but were found out to have donated large sums to L

Chai Patel

• Nominated for peerage after donating £100,000

Lord Cruddas

• Appointed 2020

  • Had donated £3m to C over preceding years

    • HOLAC advised against his appt due to previous financial improprieties

First time a PM ignored HOLAC

• 2020, Johnson’s appt of Cruddas

Baroness Owen

• Appointed to HoL by Johnson but has a very limited CV

Lord Jo Johnson

• Appointed by his brother Boris in 2020 as part of Dissolution Honours

  • Had been Junior Minister across depts but not enough to make him a Lord w/out BoJo

Truss’ honours list

• Was FULL

  • Included a donor and a senior aide

Lord Lebedev

• Russian-British billionaire who owns Evening Standard

  • Dad was senior figure in KGB

• Nominated by BoJo for peerage but this was concerning due to national security

Lord Mandelson

• Had to resign as an MP twice due to political scandals

• Sat on 35 cabinet (sub-)committees

• Was First Secretary of State and Business Secretary

Difficulty with accountability

• Cannot enter HoC and cannot be questioned during Departmental Qs Time except via Select Committee

Difficulties with Cameron

• Could not be held directly to account during times of conflict in Ukraine and Gaza

Limits to Lord’s power — Plmt Act 1911

• Due to Lords refusing to pass George’s ‘people’s budget’

  • Removed HoL power to block legislation

  • Limited delays to legislation to 2 years

Plmt Act 1949

• HoL only able to delay legislation for 1 year

4 (only) times Plmt Act has been used

1. War Crimes Act 1991 — allowed 🇬🇧 courts to try suspected crimes committed on behalf of Nazi 🇩🇪 during WW2

2. European Plmtary Elections Act 1999 — changed voting system from FPTP to D’Hondt PR

3. Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 — equalised age of consent

4. Hunting Act 2004 — prohibited use of dogs in hunting of wild mammals

2 examples of threatening the use of the Plmt Act

• EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017

  • Legislated triggering of Article 50

    • Lords added 2 amendments and sent back to HoC, which overturned them

      • Lords then backed down and withdrew them

• Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was given 1,100 amendments in the Lords but Act could be invoked to push it through

  • Would be controversial due to ethical concerns about bill and fact it wasn’t a gov’t bill

Financial Privilege

• Lords don’t vote agains the budget

Salisbury Convention

• Lords don’t vote against manifesto bills due to democratic legitimacy

Example of Salisbury Convention

• 2025 Football Governance Act

  • Established independent regulator to ensure financial sustainability of all football clubs in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

• Went through stage of HoC and HoL but no vote was held in HoL at 2nd or 3rd reading

Reasonable Time Convention

• HoL shouldn’t unreasonably delay gov’t business

Example of Reasonable Time Convention

• House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was obv controversial in Lords but didn’t attempt to slow down its passage

Most common form of Secondary Legislation

Statutory Instruments

Number of statutory instruments passed per year

3,500

Secondary Legislation in the HoL

• Scrutinised but only votes against in exceptional circumstances

Last PM to govern permanently from HoL

• Marquess of Salisbury (1895-1902)

Last PM to govern for a bit from HoL

• 1963 Alec Douglas-Home chosen to succeed MacMillan

  • Renounced peerage and stood for election but governed from HoL for 14 days

Wakeham Commission (2000)

• L White Paper called for 20% elected HoL

  • Was rejected in 2003

2005 — response to L pledge for fully elected HoL with staggered elections

• Passed in HoC by 113

  • Rejected by HoL

3 aspects of Clegg’s 2012 bill for Lords reform

1. Limit size of chamber

2. Mixed — with 120 elected and some appointed

3. Cap on number of gov’t ministers that could come from HoL

3 examples of Working Peers

1. Baroness Hoey — voted in 41.8%; spoke 56 times in 2024

2. Lord Wood — voted in 55.9%; spoke 26 times in 2024

3. Baroness Grey-Thompson — voted in 38%; spoke 23 times in 2024

3 examples of Full-Time Politicians in HoL

1. Baroness Smith (L) — current leader; voted in 84%; spoke 218 times in 2024

2. Lord Newby (LD) — former leader of LD in HoL; voted in 70%; spoke 200 times in 2024

3. Lord True (C) — former leader of HoL, currently shadow leader; voted in 84.6%; spoke 101 times in 2024

2 examples of Non-Working Peers

1. Lord Sugar — voted in 1.53%; spoken 63 times ever

2. Lord Lebedev — voted in 0%; spoken 5 times ever

2014 House of Lords Reform Act — 2 actions

• Allowed Lords to retire

• Allowed removal of Lords who don’t attend for a whole Plmtary session (but not speaking or voting)

Lord Hameed — £ claimed 2021-2022 despite never speaking or voting

£18,008

Current expenses Lords can claim

• £371 if live outside of London

• £180 if live in London

Lord Paul — expenses claimed in April 2025 despite no speaking or voting

£3,971

2023-4 — cost of HoL

£143m+

4 ways Lords scrutinises Commons

1. Debates (more than HoC)

2. Question Time and Urgent Qs (called Private Notice Qs)

3. Select committees

4. Legislation

2 factors that affect Lord’s scrutiny

1. No majority

2. More bipartisan due to job security

3 reasons Lords provides better scrutiny than Commons

1. Time

2. Independence

3. Expertise

Time

• Go through bills line by line

• Committee stage = committee of whole house not MPs selected by whips

2020 Agriculture Act time spent in Commons in total

32h45m

2020 Agriculture Act time spent in Lords in total

96h

Current number of crossbenchers

189

2010-2024 — % more defeats suffered in Lords than Commons

1732%

5 expert Lords that took part in Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill debate

1. Lord Biggar — Prof of Moral Theology

2. Baroness Cass — clinical advisor to Dept for Health and Social Care

3. Baroness Grey-Thompson — former Paralympian

4. Bishop of London

5. Baroness May

Lord West v Huw Merriman 2021

• Lord West: 9/10 last contributions to Lords directly related to his expertise

• Merriman: 10 different topics out of 10 different contributions

Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee

• Used by Lords to review statutory instruments

% of statutory instruments rejected by Lords since 1965

0.01%

4 types of peers

1. Hereditary

2. Bishops/religious leaders

3. People’s peers

4. Those chosen by PMs

Number of Lords Spiritual in HoL

26 (Bishops)

Life Peerages Act (1958)

• Allowed monarch to appoint members to HoL for their life but the title would not pass on

House of Lords Act (1999)

• Hereditary peers 759 → 92

Number of C peers pre-1999 Act

471

Number of L peers pre-1999 Act

179