House of Lords

Structure

  • Types of peers

    • Hereditary

      • Limited to 92

    • Bishops/religious leaders

    • Chosen by PMs

    • People’s peers

      • 2001- appointments commission established to ensure a more transparent and merit-based process for appointing members to the House of Lords

      • 76 by 2024

Roles

of Peers

  • Influence debates on national issues

  • Scrutinise legislation

  • Check small details of legislation

  • Question the govt representative

  • Advocate for marginalised groups

  • Delay legislation (not vetoing)

Legislation

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

  • 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

      • E.g. Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2000

  • 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

Scrutiny

  • Limited in their role of scrutiny of senior ministers as most of them sit in the HoC

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

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

    • Represent interests and causes in society

  • Committee stage of bill important due to

    • Improving legislation

    • Adding clauses to protect vulnerable minorities

    • Clarifying meaning

    • Removing ineffective sections

Representation

  • Improved as Lords not elected so no party majority

    • Better range of views and opinions

    • No worries about constituents or being re-elected

  • Ability to focus on groups from across society

  • Non-political backgrounds mean they have a greater wealth and range of experience

  • Power of whips is weaker

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

    • UKIP had 5 peers until 2019 when they became independent

  • More opportunities to speak about marginal interests

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

    • Lords bring the moral/ethical dimension

  • Social representation terrible

    • January 2025- 799 members

      • Con- 272

      • Lab- 185

      • Crossbencher- 184

      • LibDem- 77

      • Non-affiliated and others- 81

    • Gender

      • 560 men, 239 women

        • Lab- 76 female peers

        • Con- 67 female peers

    • Age (Oct 24)

      • Av age 71

    • Ethnicity

      • 2018- 6%

      • 2000- 3%

Effectiveness: