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- Too often a Government with a large majority can force legislation through the House of Commons with little or no scrutiny but Parliament’s upper chamber has been a place where legislation sometimes receives greater consideration and where opposition can be more effectively organised.
- Changes to the Elections Act, the Policing Act and the scrapping of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill show the value in having legislators who are less influenced by electoral politics and who are experts in a wide range of issues often after long careers in a variety of fields
- However, the honours system has been abused particularly during this Parliament and this has contributed to mistrust in our political system.
- There should be reform of the House of Lords but the far more pressing constitutional change needed in the UK is electoral reform which has a much greater impact on everyday life than the House of Lords.
Reactive
- There are democratic and taxpayer value issues on having such a large and unelected chamber
- In a country where less than 50% identify as Christian and almost 40% say they are not religious, there are understandable questions around why members of the clergy are represented in our legislature.The only other country which does this is Iran.