Further reform of the House of Lords

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  • Created by: Holly
  • Created on: 19-05-13 12:18

Further reform of the House of Lords

Advantages

  • The previous reformation was unfinished. Membership is still able to inflict damage on an elected centre-left government, reform may help this.
  • The House of Lords does not currently reflect Britain as it is today. The Church of England has a representitive where no other denominations do. Low amount of women + ethnic minorities
  • Way of appointment is still questionable. The Prime Minister appoints. 'Tonie's Cronies'. Lacks legitimacy

Disadvantages

  • The House of Lords currently performs its role well. It scrutinies legislation. Why fix something if its not broken?
  • Members are there because they have specialist knowledge, and in a less partisan atmosphere this produces interesting debates with expertise on any subject. Impressive array of experience and talent
  • The Lords have shown objectivity. governments of both parties have been defeated due to removal of hereditary peers.

Evaluation

The House of Lords should be further reformed because it currently is unrepresentative socially, it lacks legitimacy and further reform was originally intended  to resolve its objectivity issues which are biased towards centre-left governments. However, it is important to note that although not socially representative, the membership has a variety of specialist knowledge. The Lords have also shown objectivity in the past, and the House of Lords carries out its function well.

Comments

Kaiser

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Advantages and disadvantages are wrong way round. How many times have the House of Lords been biased TOWARDS centre left governements?

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