House of Lords Reform Proposals
January 5, 2007
The DCA states that: “The Government believes a credible and effective second chamber of Parliament is vital to the health of our democracy.”
There have been numerous proposals as to how this might be achieved.
A chronology of events is available from the UK Parliament website up until March 2000. http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199798/ldbrief/ldreform.htm Article by Alexandra Kelso, Reforming the House of Lords: navigating representation, democracy and legitimacy at Westminster. Parl. Aff. 2006, 59(4), 563-581. Kelso discusses the meaning of representation, democracy and legitimacy in the context of Lords Reform. She then surveys the proposals which have had the most impact on the debate over House of Lords Reform: the 1997 Labour Manifesto, the Wakeham Report in 2000, the 2001 White Paper, the 2002 PASC Report, and the 2002 Joint Committee Report.
http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/gsl029?ijkey=y0M12Ql85zqzzAK&keytype=ref
Report of the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords chaired by Lord Wakeham – “A House for the Future” (known as the Wakeham Report, published January 2000): Executive Summary at: http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm45/4534/exec_sum.pdf
Useful overviews at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/611734.stm
And http://www.guardian.co.uk/lords/Story/0,,190350,00.html
Full transcript: http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm45/4534/contents.htm
See also: “Constitutional Reform: Next Steps for the House of Lords” (published 2003), together with the reports of the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform (published 2002 and 2003) and the Government White Paper “The House of Lords: Completing the Reform”. at: http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/holref/holrefindex.htm
Fifth Report of the Public Administration Select Committee (published February 2002). http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmpubadm/494/49402.htm See press release and summary of findings at: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/public_administration_select_committee/pasc_pn_05.cfm The Government’s response: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmpubadm/794/79404.htm
Extracts from the abovementioned reports are found in Fenwick and Phillipson, Text, Cases and Materials, pp. 341-417.
The most recent proposals:
House of Lords Reform Bill mentioned in Queen’s speech in 2005. Not yet introduced. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4554271.stm
On 15 November 2006 at the opening of the Parliamentary Session, the Queen stated in her speech that the government ”will work to build a consensus on reform of the House of Lords and will bring forward proposals.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6152534.stm
Jack Straw, as Leader of the House of Commons, has the unenviable responsibility of reaching a cross-party consensus as to the reform of the upper chamber, whilst maintaining the pre-eminence of the Commons. His plans were leaked in the Sunday Times on 22 October 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2416022_1,00.html
See review of this at:http://politics.guardian.co.uk/lords/story/0,,1928945,00.html
Lord Cunningham, chairman of the Joint Committee on Conventions is charged with broadly the same task as Straw and has recently unveiled a new report. See excellent article by Geoffrey Howe in the FT on 2 January 2007.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ef45c328-9a8a-11db-bbd2-0000779e2340.html
and further details at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6163398.stm
See speech by Lord Cunningham in House of Lords debate on 5 December 2006 (scroll down to relevant paras): http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/61205-0001.htm
Tony Blair has stated that the reform of the House of Lords will only proceed if a consensus is reached and has pledged that any reform will not be pushed through using the Parliament Acts. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6085746.stm
Survey on failed proposals concerning the second chamber up until 2005:http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-02973.pdf
Recent special report from the Guardian: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/lords/0,,442877,00.html
See also BBC Key stories on House of Lords reform, including cash for peerage investigations (see links on following page)http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4848746.stm
MPs vote for elected second chamber March 2007
“The Commons voted unexpectedly by 337 to 224, a majority of 113, in favour of a 100 per cent elected Lords.” Some might see this as a delaying tactic over future reform for others it is a landmark in the modernisation of the British Parliament.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/08/nlords08.xml
October 21, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I Don’t see what the fuss is all about myself. it is not like the House of Lords can do anything anyway.
The Parliament Act 1911 effectively abolished the power of the House of Lords to reject legislation, or to amend in a way unacceptable to the House of Commons. They can only delay it. What’s the point of being there!
November 7, 2007 at 10:34 am
The Parliament Acts only curtailed the power of the Lords to reject legislation in the following ways:
“Bills certified by the Speaker as Money Bills to receive Royal Assent without the consent of the Lords if not passed by the Lords without amendment within one month of being sent up from the Commons and at least one month before the end of the session.
Any other Public Bills, except those extending the life of a Parliament, to become an Act of Parliament without the consent of the Lords if passed by the Commons in three successive sessions with two years between first Second Reading and final passing in the Commons, and if sent up to the Lords at least one month before the end of each of the three sessions.”
(This summary is taken from a House of Lords Annual Report Briefing Note at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199798/ldbrief/ldreform.htm)
There are many examples of the Lords defeating the Commons on public bills – eg Terrorism Bill, Mental Health Bill etc.