Tag: House of Lords
The Government has been defeated 10 times in the House of Lords since the election: could this be the new parliamentary reality?
At the 2015 General Election in May, the Conservative Party won a majority in the House of Commons. However, they are far from having one in the House of Lords, which has a very different composition. Here, Hannah White considers the significance of recent defeats in the House of Lords at the start of the new […]
Is a British Senate any closer now? Or will the House of Lords still go on and on?
Labour enters the 2015 election pledged to make creating a British Senate a key part of a new Constitutional Convention. The SNP surge in Scotland gives much greater urgency to the idea, since a new upper House could be one of the most important components for re-binding together a fully federal UK. Richard Reid and […]
The relationship between political donations and peerages shows the need for party finance and House of Lords reform
Allegations that membership of the House of Lords and large political donations go hand-in-hand stretch back hundreds of years, with Tony Blair at one point questioned by police on the issue. Here Andrew Mell illustrates a direct statistical link, and argues that it shows the need for reform of both the House of Lords and […]
Enough is enough: Time to regulate prime ministerial appointments to the Lords
This week the Constitution Unit publishes a new report arguing that the time has come to regulate prime ministerial appointments to the House of Lords – to prevent the chamber’s size escalating further, and prevent government manipulating its membership. The report argues that, despite large-scale Lords reform being awaited, this step is urgent ahead of […]
The best of Democratic Audit’s 2014 coverage of Parliamentary reform
The UK’s archaic Parliamentary system remains in dire need of reform and renewal. Recent events resulting from the Scottish independence referendum – particularly the Prime Minister’s plans to exclude Scottish MPs from voting in English domestic legislation – threaten to elevate our constitutional incoherence to hitherto unprecedented levels. The Democratic Audit blog has kept a close eye […]
A constitutional convention conundrum: Lords reform and a senate of the regions
Donal Coffee and James Hand discuss the prospect of a constitutional convention and the question of Lords reform in light of Ed Milliband’s statements on a senate of the regions. They argue that Ed Miliband should proceed with care when it comes to Lords reform. There has, of late, been increased talk of a constitutional […]
The House of Lords leadership row highlights the weaknesses in both Number 10’s decision-making and the current statutory provisions
The Prime Minister has angered peers by appointing Baroness Stowell as Leader of the House of Lords without appointing her to the Cabinet. In a scathing debate last Monday David Cameron was criticised for diminishing the status of the Lords Leader, and thus the chamber itself. Meg Russell and Robert Hazell highlight that the row, and the proposed solutions, […]
20 things we learned about democracy in July 2014
July 2014 was a quieter month for democracy, with things settling down into a lull for the summer. But that doesn’t mean that nothing of note happened, with Sean Kippin bringing you the latest instalment of our 20 things we learned about democracy series, which is once again bursting with choice nuggets of democracy information […]
The Paisley snail, individual freedom, and a duty of care for democracy
In a recent TED Talk at the Houses of Parliament, the Labour Peer Lord Puttnam spoke about democracy and individual freedom. He highlighted the duty of care that we each have to ensure that democracy is protected for our society, owing to its inherent fragility and the danger that misinformation and misconceptions can play in perverting […]
Political dynasties have featured prominently in British political history, but are declining in value
The death of Tony Benn, third of four generations of his family to sit in the House of Commons, and the selection of Stephen Kinnock, son of the former Labour leader, as a candidate for the next general election, has thrust the spotlight onto political dynasties. Alun Wyburn-Powell shows that historically dynasties have been highly […]
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