82-537: Minority (37) Others (13) Vacant (1) The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria 's bicameral legislature , the National Assembly . The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's legislature and has the power to make laws, as summarized in chapter one, section four of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria . The lower chamber is the House of Representatives . The President of
164-544: A 20% elected element to the Lords, but this plan was widely criticised. A parliamentary Joint Committee was established in 2001 to resolve the issue, but it reached no conclusion and instead gave Parliament seven options to choose from (fully appointed, 20% elected, 40% elected, 50% elected, 60% elected, 80% elected, and fully elected). In a confusing series of votes in February 2003, all of these options were defeated, although
246-824: A Legislative Council prior to joining Canada , as did Ontario when it was Upper Canada and Quebec from 1791 (as Lower Canada ) to 1968. Nebraska is the only state in the United States with a unicameral legislature, having abolished its lower house in 1934, while the Senate of Nebraska , the upper house prior to 1934, continues to assemble. The Australian state of Queensland also once had an appointed Legislative Council before abolishing it in 1922. All other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems, though all members are now directly elected (the two self-governing territories, along with Norfolk Island until 2016, have always been unicameral). Like Queensland,
328-702: A Lord of Parliament was thus diminished. Moreover, the power of the House as a whole decreased, whilst that of the House of Commons grew. Particularly notable in the development of the Lower House's superiority was the Reform Act of 1832 . The electoral system of the House of Commons was far from democratic: property qualifications greatly restricted the size of the electorate, and the boundaries of many constituencies had not been changed for centuries. Entire cities such as Manchester had not even one representative in
410-462: A bill so that it does not fit within the legislative schedule, or until a general election produces a new lower house that no longer wishes to proceed with the bill. Nevertheless, some states have long retained powerful upper houses. For example, the consent of the upper house to legislation may be necessary (though, as noted above, this seldom extends to budgetary measures). Constitutional arrangements of states with powerful upper houses usually include
492-482: A body independent from the pressures of the political process, the House of Lords is said to act as a "revising chamber" focusing on legislative detail, while occasionally asking the House of Commons to reconsider its plans. While peers may also serve as government ministers , they are typically only selected to serve as junior ministers, except for the Leader of the House of Lords . The House of Lords does not control
574-520: A coalition or caucus . If two or more parties are tied, the Senate President's affiliation determines which party becomes the majority party. The second largest party is the minority party . Bills may be introduced in either chamber of the National Assembly . The constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that form its ability to "check and balance" other elements of
656-470: A commitment, based on the party's historic opposition to class privilege, to abolish the House of Lords, or at least expel the hereditary element. In 1968 the Labour Government of Harold Wilson attempted to reform the House of Lords by introducing a system under which hereditary peers would be allowed to remain in the House and take part in debate, but would be unable to vote. This plan, however,
738-407: A means to resolve situations where the two houses are at odds with each other. In recent times, parliamentary systems have tended to weaken the powers of upper houses relative to their lower counterparts. Some upper houses have been fully abolished; others have had their powers reduced by constitutional or legislative amendments. Also, conventions often exist that the upper house ought not to obstruct
820-534: A new Parliament of Great Britain to replace the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland . This new parliament was, in effect, the continuation of the Parliament of England with the addition of 45 Members of Parliament (MPs) and 16 Peers to represent Scotland. The House of Lords developed from the "Great Council" ( Magnum Concilium ) that advised the king during medieval times, dating back to
902-472: A part of a compromise, however, it agreed to permit 92 hereditary peers to remain until the reforms were complete. Thus, all but 92 hereditary peers were expelled under the House of Lords Act 1999 (see below for its provisions), making the House of Lords predominantly an appointed house. Since 1999, however, no further reform has taken place. In 2000, the Wakeham Commission proposed introducing
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#1732765705769984-460: A seven-month enquiry by Naomi Ellenbogen found that one in five staff of the House had experienced bullying or harassment which they did not report for fear of reprisals. This was preceded by several cases, including Liberal Democrat Anthony Lester, Lord Lester of Herne Hill , of Lords using their position to sexually harass or abuse women. In 2020, the Johnson government considered moving
1066-440: A wholly appointed, a 20% elected, a 40% elected, a 50% elected, and a 60% elected House of Lords were all defeated in turn. Finally, the vote for an 80% elected Lords was won by 305 votes to 267, and the vote for a wholly elected Lords was won by an even greater margin, 337 to 224. Significantly, this last vote represented an overall majority of MPs. Furthermore, examination of the names of MPs voting at each division shows that, of
1148-549: Is also larger than the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea (687 members)", and that "Peers grumble that there is not enough room to accommodate all of their colleagues in the Chamber, where there are only about 400 seats, and say they are constantly jostling for space – particularly during high-profile sittings", but added, "On the other hand, defenders of the Lords say that it does a vital job scrutinising legislation,
1230-546: Is sometimes seen as having a special role of safeguarding the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom and important civil liberties against ill-considered change. The House of Lords has a number of ways to block legislation and to reject it; however, the House of Commons can eventually use the Parliament Act to force something through. The Commons will often accept amendments passed by the Lords; however,
1312-642: Is the British House of Lords . Under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 , the House of Lords can no longer prevent the passage of most bills, but it must be given an opportunity to debate them and propose amendments, and can thereby delay the passage of a bill with which it disagrees. Bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month. The House of Lords
1394-752: The Dissolution Honours , the total number of eligible members of the Lords increased to 826. In a report entitled "Does size matter?" the BBC said: "Increasingly, yes. Critics argue the House of Lords is the second largest legislature after the Chinese National People's Congress and dwarfs upper houses in other bicameral democracies such as the United States (100 senators), France (348 senators), Australia (76 senators), Canada (105 appointed senators) and India (250 members). The Lords
1476-536: The Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain as members ex officio . No members directly inherit their seats any longer. The House of Lords also includes up to 26 archbishops and bishops of the Church of England , known as Lords Spiritual . Since 2014, membership may be voluntarily relinquished or terminated upon expulsion . As the upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords has many similar functions to
1558-563: The Federal Government of Nigeria . These include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the President's government appointments; also the Senate must consent to all treaties with foreign governments and it tries all impeachments. Upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature , the other chamber being the lower house . The house formally designated as
1640-517: The German state of Bavaria had an appointed second chamber, the Senate of Bavaria , from 1946 to 1999. The Senate of the Philippines was abolished – and restored – twice: from 1935 to 1945 when a unicameral National Assembly convened, and from 1972 to 1987 when Congress was closed, and later a new constitution was approved instituting a unicameral Parliament. The Senate was re-instituted with
1722-412: The House of Commons (consisting of the shire and borough representatives) and the House of Lords (consisting of the archbishops, bishops, abbots and nobility). The authority of Parliament continued to grow, and during the early 15th century both Houses exercised powers to an extent not seen before. The Lords were far more powerful than the Commons because of the great influence of the great landowners and
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#17327657057691804-586: The House of Commons the " People's Budget ", which proposed a land tax targeting wealthy landowners. The popular measure, however, was defeated in the heavily Conservative House of Lords. Having made the powers of the House of Lords a primary campaign issue, the Liberals were narrowly re-elected in January 1910 . The Liberals had lost most of their support in the Lords, which was routinely rejecting Liberals' bills. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith then proposed that
1886-599: The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor , introduced a white paper to the House of Commons proposing to replace the House of Lords with an 80–100% elected chamber, with one third being elected at each general election, to serve a term of approximately 12–15 years. The white paper stated that, as the peerage would be totally separated from membership of the Upper House, the name "House of Lords" would no longer be appropriate. It went on to explain that there
1968-410: The first-past-the-post electoral system . The Federal Capital Territory elects only one senator at-large , also using first-past-the-post. Senators serve a term of four years. There are no term limits and senators can remain in the chamber for as long as they are re-elected in general elections. The majority party is the party that has a majority of seats, either alone or as the main party of
2050-628: The 305 who voted for the 80% elected option, 211 went on to vote for the 100% elected option. Given that this vote took place after the vote on 80% – whose result was already known when the vote on 100% took place – this showed a clear preference for a fully elected Upper House among those who voted for the only other option that passed. But this was nevertheless only an indicative vote, and many political and legislative hurdles remained to be overcome for supporters of an elected House of Lords. Lords, soon after, rejected this proposal and voted for an entirely appointed House of Lords. In July 2008, Jack Straw ,
2132-495: The 80% elected option fell by just three votes in the Commons. Socialist MPs favouring outright abolition voted against all the options. In 2005, a cross-party group of senior MPs ( Kenneth Clarke , Paul Tyler , Tony Wright , George Young , and Robin Cook ) published a report proposing that 70% of members of the House of Lords should be elected – each member for a single long term – by the single transferable vote system. Most of
2214-648: The British House of Lords until 1999 and in the Japanese House of Peers until it was abolished in 1947. It is also common that the upper house consists of delegates chosen by state governments or local officials. Members of the Rajya Sabha in India are nominated by various states and union territories, while 12 of them are nominated by the President of India. Similarly, at the state level, one-third of
2296-462: The Commons was at its highest pitch only six months before, and the Labourite leadership under Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon determined that something sympathetic should be done. Meg Russell stated in an article, "Is the House of Lords already reformed?", three essential features of a legitimate House of Lords: The first was that it must have adequate powers over legislation to make
2378-501: The House of Commons passed a Reform Bill to correct some of these anomalies in 1831, the House of Lords rejected the proposal. The popular cause of reform, however, was not abandoned by the ministry, despite a second rejection of the bill in 1832. Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey advised the King to overwhelm opposition to the bill in the House of Lords by creating about 80 new pro-Reform peers. William IV originally balked at
2460-424: The House of Commons, while the 11 voters of Old Sarum retained their ancient right to elect two MPs despite living elsewhere. A small borough was susceptible to bribery, and was often under the control of a patron, whose nominee was guaranteed to win an election. Some aristocrats were patrons of numerous " pocket boroughs ", and therefore controlled a considerable part of the membership of the House of Commons. When
2542-400: The House of Commons. It scrutinises legislation , holds the government to account, and considers and reports upon public policy . Peers may also seek to introduce legislation or propose amendments to bills . While it is unable to prevent bills passing into law , except in certain limited circumstances, it may delay the enactment of bills for up to one year. In this capacity, as
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2624-581: The House of Lords during the middle 17th century. Conflicts between the King and the Parliament (for the most part, the House of Commons) ultimately led to the English Civil War during the 1640s. In 1649, after the defeat and execution of King Charles I , the Commonwealth of England was declared, but the nation was effectively under the overall control of Oliver Cromwell , Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland . The House of Lords
2706-633: The House of Lords from London to a city in Northern England , likely York , or Birmingham , in the Midlands , in an attempt to "reconnect" the area. It was unclear how the King's Speech would be conducted in the event of a move. The idea was received negatively by many peers. With the advent of democratic politics in the United Kingdom, beginning with the Reform Acts from 1832 to 1928,
2788-485: The House of Lords until 1958, when a small number came into the chamber as a result of the Life Peerages Act 1958 . One of these was Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale , who had inherited her father's peerage in 1925 and was made a life peer to enable her to sit. After a campaign stretching back in some cases to the 1920s, another twelve women who held hereditary peerages in their own right were admitted with
2870-544: The House of Lords, favoured an 80% elected Lords, while the Liberal Democrats called for a fully elected Senate . During 2006, a cross-party committee discussed Lords reform, with the aim of reaching a consensus: its findings were published in early 2007. On 7 March 2007, members of the House of Commons voted ten times on a variety of alternative compositions for the Upper Chamber. Outright abolition,
2952-681: The House of Lords, called on the Prime Minister David Cameron to stop creating new peers. He had created 117 new peers between entering office in May 2010 and leaving in July 2016, a faster rate of elevation than any PM in British history; at the same time his government had tried (in vain) to reduce the House of Commons by 50, from 650 to 600 MPs. In August 2014, despite there being a seating capacity for only around 230 to 400 on
3034-516: The House of Lords. She also criticised successive prime ministers for filling the second chamber with "lobby fodder" in an attempt to help their policies become law. She made her remarks days before a new batch of peers were due to be created and several months after the passage of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 , enabling life peers to retire or resign their seats in the House, which had previously only been possible for hereditary peers and bishops. In August 2015, when 45 more peers were created in
3116-442: The Lords useless. Third was the perceived legitimacy of the Lords. She stated, "In general legitimacy comes with election." The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreed, after the 2010 general election, to outline clearly a provision for a wholly or mainly elected second chamber, elected by proportional representation. These proposals sparked a debate on 29 June 2010. As an interim measure, appointment of new peers would reflect
3198-473: The Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip. In addition, there are 63 Standing Committees in the Senate chaired by Committee Chairmen. The Senate consists of 109 senators . The 36 states of Nigeria are each divided into 3 senatorial districts, with each district electing one senator using
3280-654: The Senate is the presiding officer of the Senate, whose chief function is to guide and regulate the proceedings in the Senate. The Senate President is second in the Nigerian presidential line of succession . He is assisted by the Deputy President of the Senate. The current President is Sen. Godswill Akpabio while the current Deputy President is Sen. Barau Jibrin , both members of the APC . The Senate President and his deputy are assisted by principal officers including
3362-472: The Weatherill Amendment to the House of Lords Act 1999 , which preserved 92 hereditary peers in the house. Compromise and negotiation between the two houses make the Parliament Act a very rarely used backup plan. Even without a veto, an upper house may defeat legislation. Its opposition may give the lower chamber a chance to reconsider or even abandon a controversial measure. It can also delay
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3444-623: The abolition, while the centrist Fianna Fáil was alone among major parties in supporting the retention of the Seanad. House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Like the lower house , the House of Commons , it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London , England. One of the oldest institutions in the world, its origins lie in
3526-485: The aristocratic House of Lords was increasingly perceived as an anachronism . Many attempts to reform it have been made, and some have succeeded, most notably the removal of most hereditary peers in 1999. As of 2024, the policy of the Labour Party is to abolish the House of Lords, and to replace it with an elected second chamber, albeit not in the first term of a Labour government. There were no women sitting in
3608-407: The benches in the Lords chamber, the House had 774 active members (plus 54 who were not entitled to attend or vote, having been suspended or granted leave of absence). This made the House of Lords the largest parliamentary chamber in any democracy. In August 2014, former Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd requested that "older peers should retire gracefully" to ease the overcrowding in
3690-449: The business of government for frivolous or merely partisan reasons. These conventions have tended to harden with a passage of time. In presidential systems, the upper house is frequently given other powers to compensate for its restrictions: There are a variety of ways an upper house's members are assembled: by direct or indirect election, appointment or a mixture of these. Many upper houses are not directly elected but appointed: either by
3772-400: The delaying power of the House of Lords further to two sessions or one year. In 1958, the predominantly hereditary nature of the House of Lords was changed by the Life Peerages Act 1958 , which authorised the creation of life baronies, with no numerical limits. The number of life peers then gradually increased, though not at a constant rate. The Labour Party had, for most of the 20th century,
3854-402: The early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century. In contrast to the House of Commons, membership of the Lords is not generally acquired by election . Most members are appointed for life , on either a political or non-political basis. Hereditary membership was limited in 1999 to 92 excepted hereditary peers : 90 elected through internal by-elections , plus
3936-446: The early 11th century. This royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, and representatives of the counties of England and Wales (afterwards, representatives of the boroughs as well). The first English Parliament is often considered to be either Simon de Montfort's Parliament (held in 1265) or the " Model Parliament " (held in 1295), which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of
4018-701: The establishment of the Supreme Court in 2009. The House of Lords also has a Church of England role, in that Church Measures must be tabled within the House by the Lords Spiritual. Today's Parliament of the United Kingdom largely descends, in practice, from the Parliament of England , through the Treaty of Union of 1706 and the Acts of Union that implemented and executed the Treaty in 1707 and created
4100-565: The first woman to sit as a Lord Spiritual in the House of Lords due to the Act. As of 2023, six women bishops sit as Lords Spiritual, five of them having been accelerated due to this Act. The size of the House of Lords has varied greatly throughout its history. The English House of Lords—then comprising 168 members—was joined at Westminster by 16 Scottish peers to represent the peerage of Scotland—a total of 184 nobles—in 1707's first Parliament of Great Britain . A further 28 Irish members to represent
4182-609: The following suggestions: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg introduced the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012 on 27 June 2012 which built on proposals published on 17 May 2011. However, this Bill was abandoned by the Government on 6 August 2012, following opposition from within the Conservative Party . A private member's bill to introduce some reforms was introduced by Dan Byles in 2013. The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 received Royal Assent in 2014. Under
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#17327657057694264-460: The government think twice before making a decision. The House of Lords, she argued, had enough power to make it relevant. (In his first year, Tony Blair was defeated 38 times in the Lords—but that was before the major reform with the House of Lords Act 1999.) Second, as to the composition of the Lords, Meg Russell suggested that the composition must be distinct from the Commons, otherwise it would render
4346-550: The head of state, by the head of government or in some other way. This is usually intended to produce a house of experts or otherwise distinguished citizens, who would not necessarily be returned in an election. For example, members of the Senate of Canada are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. In the past, some upper houses had seats that were entirely hereditary, such as in
4428-406: The major Lords reform ( House of Lords Act 1999 ) reduced it to 669, mostly life peers, by March 2000. The chamber's membership again expanded in the following decades, increasing to above eight hundred active members in 2014 and prompting further reforms in the House of Lords Reform Act that year. In April 2011, a cross-party group of former leading politicians, including many senior members of
4510-566: The members of the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) are nominated by local governments, one-third by sitting legislators, and the rest are elected by select members of the electorate. The United States Senate was chosen by state legislatures until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The upper house may be directly elected but in different proportions to the lower house - for example,
4592-410: The monarchy was restored. It returned to its former position as the more powerful chamber of Parliament—a position it would occupy until the 19th century. The 19th century was marked by several changes to the House of Lords. The House, once a body of only about 50 members, had been greatly enlarged by the liberality of George III and his successors in creating peerages. The individual influence of
4674-476: The new law: The House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 authorised the House to expel or suspend members. This Act made provision to preferentially admit female bishops of the Church of England to the Lords Spiritual over male ones in the 10 years following its commencement (2015 to 2025). This came as a consequence of the Church of England deciding in 2014 to begin to ordain women as bishops . In 2015, Rachel Treweek , Bishop of Gloucester , became
4756-488: The passage of the Peerage Act 1963 . The Labour Party included in its 1997 general election manifesto a commitment to remove the hereditary peerage from the House of Lords. Their subsequent election victory in 1997 under Tony Blair led to the denouement of the traditional House of Lords. The Labour government introduced legislation to expel all hereditary peers from the Upper House as a first step in Lords reform. As
4838-576: The peerage of Ireland were added in 1801 to the first Parliament of the United Kingdom . From about 220 peers in the eighteenth century, the house saw continued expansion. From about 850 peers in 1951/52, the numbers rose further with more life peers after the Life Peerages Act 1958 and the inclusion of all Scottish peers and the first female peers in the Peerage Act 1963 . It reached a record size of 1,330 in October 1999, immediately before
4920-455: The power of the House of Lords to reject legislation, or to amend it in a way unacceptable to the House of Commons; and most bills could be delayed for no more than three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years. It was not meant to be a permanent solution; more comprehensive reforms were planned. Neither party, however, pursued reforms with much enthusiasm, and the House of Lords remained primarily hereditary. The Parliament Act 1949 reduced
5002-530: The powers of the House of Lords be severely curtailed. After a further general election in December 1910 , and with a reluctant promise by King George V to create sufficient new Liberal peers to overcome the Lords' opposition to the measure if necessary, the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the powers of the House of Lords. The Parliament Act 1911 effectively abolished
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#17327657057695084-591: The prelates of the realm. The power of the nobility declined during the civil wars of the late 15th century, known as the Wars of the Roses . Much of the nobility was killed on the battlefield or executed for participation in the war, and many aristocratic estates were lost to the Crown. Moreover, feudalism was dying, and the feudal armies controlled by the barons became obsolete. Henry VII (1485–1509) clearly established
5166-526: The proposal, which effectively threatened the opposition of the House of Lords, but at length relented. Before the new peers were created, however, the Lords who opposed the bill admitted defeat and abstained from the vote, allowing the passage of the bill. The crisis damaged the political influence of the House of Lords but did not altogether end it. A vital reform was effected by the Lords themselves in 1868, when they changed their standing orders to abolish proxy voting, preventing Lords from voting without taking
5248-434: The proposals, members would also serve single non-renewable terms of 15 years. Former MPs would be allowed to stand for election to the Upper House, but members of the Upper House would not be immediately allowed to become MPs. The details of the proposal were: The proposals were considered by a Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform made up of both MPs and Peers, which issued its final report on 23 April 2012, making
5330-570: The remainder were to be appointed by a Commission to ensure a mix of "skills, knowledge and experience". This proposal was also not implemented. A cross-party campaign initiative called " Elect the Lords " was set up to make the case for a predominantly elected Upper Chamber in the run up to the 2005 general election . At the 2005 election, the Labour Party proposed further reform of the Lords, but without specific details. The Conservative Party, which had, prior to 1997, opposed any tampering with
5412-533: The restoration of a bicameral Congress via a constitutional amendment in 1941, and via adoption of a new constitution in 1987. A previous government of Ireland (the 31st Dáil) promised a referendum on the abolition of its upper house , the Seanad Éireann , during the 24th Seanad session. By a narrow margin, the Irish public voted to retain it. Conservative-leaning Fine Gael and Left-leaning Sinn Féin both supported
5494-404: The same form by both houses. Additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as "perfect bicameralism" or "equal bicameralism." The role of a revising chamber is to scrutinise legislation that may have been drafted over-hastily in the lower house and to suggest amendments that the lower house may nevertheless reject if it wishes to. An example
5576-536: The senates of Australia, Brazil and the United States have a fixed number of elected members from each state, regardless of the population. Many jurisdictions once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems, including Croatia , Denmark , Estonia , Hungary , Iceland , Iran , Mauritania , New Zealand , Peru , Sweden , Turkey , Venezuela , many Indian states , Brazilian states , Canadian provinces , subnational entities such as Queensland , and some other jurisdictions. Newfoundland had
5658-401: The shares of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election. Detailed proposals for Lords reform, including a draft House of Lords Reform Bill, were published on 17 May 2011. These included a 300-member hybrid house, of whom 80% would be elected. A further 20% would be appointed, and reserve space would be included for some Church of England archbishops and bishops. Under
5740-473: The shires and boroughs. The power of Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined. For example, during much of the reign of Edward II (1307–1327), the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. During the reign of King Edward II's successor, Edward III , Parliament clearly separated into two distinct chambers :
5822-529: The supremacy of the monarch, symbolised by the "Crown Imperial". The domination of the Sovereign continued to grow during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs in the 16th century. The Crown was at the height of its power during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547). The House of Lords remained more powerful than the House of Commons, but the Lower House continued to grow in influence, reaching a zenith in relation to
5904-406: The term of the prime minister or of the government; only the Commons may vote to require the prime minister to resign or call an election. Unlike the House of Commons, which has a defined number of seats, the number of members in the House of Lords is not fixed. As of 22 November 2024 , it has 806 sitting members . The House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament in
5986-626: The trouble to attend. Over the course of the century the powers of the upper house were further reduced stepwise, culminating in the 20th century with the Parliament Act 1911 ; the Commons gradually became the stronger House of Parliament. The status of the House of Lords returned to the forefront of debate after the election of a Liberal Government in 1906. In 1909 the Chancellor of the Exchequer , David Lloyd George , introduced into
6068-434: The two houses have sometimes reached a constitutional standoff. For example, when the Labour Government of 1999 tried to expel all hereditary peers from the Lords, the Lords threatened to wreck the Government's entire legislative agenda and to block every bill which was sent to the chamber. This standoff led to negotiations between Viscount Cranborne, the then Shadow Leader of the House, and the Labour Government, resulting in
6150-550: The upper house is frequently seen as an advisory or a "house of review" chamber; for this reason, its powers of direct action are often reduced in some way. Some or all of the following restrictions are often placed on upper houses: In parliamentary democracies and among European upper houses the Italian Senate is a notable exception to these general rules, in that it has the same powers as its lower counterpart: any law can be initiated in either house and must be approved in
6232-422: The upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted power than the lower house. A legislature composed of only one house (and which therefore has neither an upper house nor a lower house) is described as unicameral . An upper house is usually different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects (though they vary among jurisdictions): Powers: Status: In parliamentary systems
6314-615: The world to be larger than its lower house, and is the second-largest legislative chamber in the world , behind the National People's Congress of China. The King's Speech is delivered in the House of Lords chamber during the State Opening of Parliament . In addition to its role as the upper house, the House of Lords, through the Law Lords , acted as the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom judicial system until
6396-566: Was considered an expert on the House of Lords. In December 1979 the Conservative Monday Club published his extensive paper entitled Lords Reform – Why tamper with the House of Lords? and in July 1980 The Monarchist carried another article by Sudeley entitled "Why Reform or Abolish the House of Lords?". In 1990 he wrote a further booklet for the Monday Club entitled "The Preservation of the House of Lords". In 2019,
6478-442: Was cross-party consensus for the Chamber to be re-titled the "Senate of the United Kingdom"; however, to ensure the debate remained on the role of the Upper House rather than its title, the white paper was neutral on the title issue. On 30 November 2009, a Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords was agreed by them. Certain amendments were agreed by them on 30 March 2010 and on 12 June 2014. The scandal over expenses in
6560-415: Was defeated in the House of Commons by a coalition of traditionalist Conservatives (such as Enoch Powell ), and Labour members who continued to advocate the outright abolition of the Upper House (such as Michael Foot ). When Foot became leader of the Labour Party in 1980, abolition of the House of Lords became a part of the party's agenda; under his successor, Neil Kinnock , however, a reformed Upper House
6642-555: Was proposed instead. In the meantime, the creation of new hereditary peerages (except for members of the Royal Family) has been arrested, with the exception of three that were created during the administration of Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Whilst some hereditary peers were at best apathetic, the Labour Party's clear commitments were not lost on Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley , who for decades
6724-506: Was reduced to a largely powerless body, with Cromwell and his supporters in the Commons dominating the Government. On 19 March 1649, the House of Lords was abolished by an Act of Parliament, which declared that "The Commons of England [find] by too long experience that the House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the people of England." The House of Lords did not assemble again until the Convention Parliament met in 1660 and
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