The Peerage Act of 1963, passed fifty years ago this week, was the first democratic challenge to the power and traditions of the House of Lords in modern times. In 2003, a minority of the House of Commons voted to abolish the upper house, with legendary Labour MP Tony Benn among them. Should the House of Lords be reformed or abolished? So, in light of recent events, perhaps now is as good a time as any to look at why this . Last week's colourful dissolution peerage list demonstrates again the necessity of that commitment. the UK only needs one chamber of Parliament." Discuss. Liberal, Labour and Conservative governments have all sailed into the Bermuda Triangle of Lords reform, though few have completed the voyage. Payments to peers have increased by 29% to £23m, and their number is . The report argues the House of Lords should be abolished and replaced with a new Senate, or Upper House, representing different parts of the UK. In a personal film for the Daily Politics soapbox series, Richard . According to polling last year by Survation, 71 per cent of Britons back overhauling the House of Lords. PUBLIC LAW - House of Lords "The House of Lords should be abolished. They should not be chosen by Parliament, as we the people should have more say. Share . Because A second chamber is necessary. TikTok video from Natalie Bennett (@nataliebennettgreen): "We should abolish the whole power to deprive people of citizenship. For Britain, the German danger has become remote and Lord Nathan, Labor's Under Secretary of State for War, told the House of Lords lately, "We must be careful to safeguard against a breakdown . In 1917 the Bryce Commission was set up to consider House of Lords reform proposals. In 2011: A draft bill on House of Lords Reform was published in May 2011 by the deputy prime minister. The House of Lords is a medieval relic from a time when land ownership was a major source of political power, and just as ownership of land moved from generation to generation so did the titles. Listen from 5:14 in 0130-0200 Segment. This would ensure that there is no unelected body in Parliament which can influence the laws passed by the elected representatives of the people. Second, the appointment is largely controlled by one person who can likely influence theworkability and integrity of the house of the Lords. in conclusion, if there was ever a time to reform the lords it would be now: the current chamber sits in limbo as a half-way house after labour's last attempt at reform in 1999; as a result of the 2005 constitutional reform act the office of lord chancellor has been has been stripped of its legal and legislative functions, and the law lords are … And they have changed. This would ensure that there is no unelected body in Parliament which can influence the laws passed by the elected representatives of the people. The House of Lords has come under renewed scrutiny this week, following the resignation of Lord Sewel over drug and prostitution allegations and reports that a secret reform panel has been set up.. The head of state has never received a vote from a single member of the electorate, and 92 hereditary peers still sit in the House of Lords. The House of Lords, formally The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Voter support: Be the first voter to support or oppose this party's public statement on this issue. Lord Steel will tell a lecture to the Scottish Liberal Club on Tuesday evening that peerages should be scrapped to make way for federalism in the UK. #nationalityandbordersbill #houseoflords #parliament #refugeeswelcome #citizenship". That seemed like a pretty definite thing. Should the House of Lords be abolished? Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords after being filmed allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes. That's the question students are asked to consider in this From the Source activity for Edexcel A-Level Politics. The House of Lords should be abolished The House of Lords is irrelevant in modern life and detrimental to our democracy. Total percentages may not add up to exactly 100% as we allow users to submit "grey area" stances that may not be categorized into yes/no stances. For instance, they are the House of Commons and House of Lords. Observations from The Minister for the Constitution and Devolution (Chloe Smith): The Government have no plans to abolish the House of Lords, which has a key role in scrutinising the Executive and as a revising Chamber; it is important that the way it is constituted reflects that role and the primacy of the House of Commons as the elected Chamber. For the House of Lords does not deserve the obloquy being heaped upon it from both Right and Left — obloquy that is laced with hypocrisy. The revelations of cash for peerages has resulted in a few members of opposition parties calling for the House of Lords to be abolished. The House of Lords, as we shall see, fulfils tasks that complement the work of the Commons, but it does not challenge the capacity of Government, with a parliamentary majority, to get its way. The former Liberal Party leader, who "assumes" the speech will be his . Support. Journalist H.L. @IainDale | @Fox_Claire | #CrossQuestion . For most of Labour's history, our policy has been to abolish the House of Lords or have an elected second chamber. Deemed to be a threat, the House of Lords would not meet until twelve years later in 1660 after the restoration of the monarchy. The House of Lords must be reformed and ultimately abolished. "Should the UK House of Lords be abolished?" Yes Although it was once a useful institution, containing the Hereditary Peers, a relatively incorruptible bunch, and a smattering of subject matter experts, its now a retirement home for civil servants and party loyalists. No democratic parliament should include hereditary peers or lifetime appointees. This brings to the point of the House of Lords reform bill that . The House of Lords as it exists today is not a timeless relic of antiquity, but a Frankenstein's monster of shreds and body parts, assembled piecemeal over a century of constitutional tinkering. While reform of the Lords has been discussed for more than a century, little real change has been made.. The House of Lords should be reformed. This should be predominantly - if not entirely . Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords after being filmed allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes. But as Tony . Nov 11, 2021. The Conservative 2019 manifesto committed to . There is a serious case to instill some democratic process to the Lords. The House of Lords should be abolished and replaced with a citizens' chamber of 400 ordinary people, says a journalist and author. When justifying the House of Lords in the English Constitution (1867), Walter Bagehot thought it . The House of Lords should be replaced with a Senate of . Mencken, an old-line Liberal, has described the approach of the Federal Republicans as "a history of compromises with the new forces, of gradual yielding, for strategic purposes, to ideas that are intrinsically at odds with its . The other house is just a retirement home for redundant Politicians, and Prime Ministers favourites. I think they are actually going to do it. 7 May 2018 Should the House of Lords be abolished? Ministers are to unveil revolutionary plans to replace the House of Lords with a slimmed down elected 'senate' containing just 300 members. 28 July 2015. A peerage should be earned, not inherited. More details Sign this petition 2,729 signatures Show on a map 10,000 The commission's recommendations were rejected by a vote in the House of Lords. Labour wants to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a US-style elected senate if it wins the general election. It is easy to chastise the House of Lords as a cesspit for all that is wrong with our democracy, yet a look underneath the country's constitutional bonnet shows that reform rather than riddance is what the House of Lords really needs. The cost of the House of Lords has ballooned. . Answer: Yes. 2,721 Signatures. Abolishing the House. However, the doubts over the severity of that action and the effect it would have on the British political system mean that any reform may be a bit of while away. The House of Lords is currently the second largest legislative chamber in the world, behind China. Baroness Fox of Buckley was included on a 36-strong peerage list in 2020 that led to accusations of cronyism . Conversely, only three-in-ten (30%) are in favor of abolishing the House of Lords altogether. Again. As it says, is it now time to get rid of the House of Lords. Parliament's upper chamber has become larger and more expensive. I disagree with the house of lords because I think it's atrocious that anyone could ever hold a place of . A clear majority of Britons (58%) supports the notion of allowing the people to directly elect their lords. Max Shanly. For the last 30 years, the Federal Republican Party has dominated the American electoral system. House of Lords to be abolished and replaced by . A debate exists as to whether the HofL should be abolished, given the fact they are unelected, yet have a say in legislation. By Robert Saunders Destinies controlled: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil addressing the House of Lords in 1897 (Photo By Universal History Archive/Getty Images) Why The House Of Lords Shouldn't Be Abolished But Reformed The House of Lords could be something great if governments weren't too afraid or selfish to change it for the better. On the whole, there are compelling arguments for the House of Lords to be abolished, most of them revolving around the undemocratic nature of the second chamber. It wasn't surprising that . The Commons can't do all the work and a 'second pair of eyes' is needed to take a look at the Really Marvellous Idea that the current bunch of idiots have come up with and say 'Just hang on a minute, sunshine…' "The time for Hereditary and 'Honour' Peers has gone, as a democratic nation we should be able to vote for a second House (Like the American Senate)" Davie J, Hampshire "Unelected legislators are a ludicrous anachronism in principle: the Lords must either be simply abolished (unicameral legislatures aren't so bad) or rendered democratic" James, Perth The former MEP caused controversy when she refused to apologise for historical support of the IRA bombing in Warrington that killed two children. 646 views | original sound - Natalie Bennett 10.6K thegreatawakening74 philemon olale . I joined talkRADIO's Darryl Morris on Wednesday to discuss whether it is time to abolish the House of Lords, the appointed upper chamber of the UK House of Commons. House of Lords should be ABOLISHED, not moved north, expert says BORIS JOHNSON may be looking to move the House of Lords to York to entrench the Tory gains in Labour's Red Wall. 07 Jun 2022 . (Roger Harris / House of Lords 2021 via Wikimedia Commons) By Jonathan Clark There will be more referenda, and the first loser will be the House of Lords The House of Lords survived because it pragmatically reinvented itself as an innocent revising chamber No legal barrier effectively stops the Remainer Lords in their course