Our parliament is made up of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, but do we really need two chambers? It can be tempting to see it as pointless duplication, but the colour of the benches isn’t the only difference between the chambers. In a large and complex country, it can pay to have a second set of eyes look at legislation from a different perspective.
Routes of entry: how do MPs and Lords gain their seats in parliament?
The House of Commons is composed of elected Members of Parliament. They are elected by us all through the First Past the Post system in General Elections and by-elections. First Past the Post is hardly the most democratic of systems, but we are at least involved. It’s a different story in the House of Lords.
One route into the House of Lords is through appointment. Life Peers can be appointed en masse to increase the strength of a political party in the House of Lords, or individually if the Prime Minister wants a particular person to become a minister. They are also appointed at various points through the year, such as ‘resignation honours’: when a PM resigns or ‘dissolution honours’ when a parliament ends.
There are also ‘Lords spiritual’: these are 26 peers who are senior bishops of the Church of England. Notably, there’s only one other nation in the world where religious leaders are granted an automatic right to sit in parliament: Iran.
Finally, some peers are in the House of Lords because of birthright: these are the 92 hereditary peers. When one dies or retires, ‘by-elections’ are held to elect a new peer. Only individuals with inherited titles can stand for these seats, and only fellow Lords can vote in the by-elections.
Hereditary peers are an especially archaic feature of the House of Lords, and in 2024, the Labour government proposed a bill which would remove all hereditary peers from the Lords.
The key takeaway from all these routes into our parliament’s second chamber is that the Prime Minister gets a say, aristocrats get a say, and the Church of England gets a say, but you don’t. It seems more appropriate for a faded gentleman’s club than a keystone of our political system.
Size: how many members does each house have?
The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected Members of Parliament.
In the House of Lords, the number of peers can fluctuate – at present, there are 805 members of the House of Lords – more than there are members of the Commons.
Given that the House of Lords is entirely unelected, it’s concerning that it’s 25% larger than the House of Commons, meaning the majority of our parliament is unelected.
Duration: how long can Lords and MPs stay in their role?
In the House of Commons, MPs have their jobs until a General Election is called. By-elections can also be called for single seats, when individual MPs step down, pass away or lose their seat for another reason. Parliament lasts a maximum of 5 years, then all MPs lose their seats, and we all get to decide if we want our MP to be re-elected or not. Although under First Past the Post, MPs can be re-elected on extremely low shares of the vote.
In the House of Lords, most peers are appointed for life, unless they resign or are expelled. It’s one thing to have no say in who gets to sit in the House of Lords. But we also have no say in when, or why, they have to leave.
Powers and functions: What can the two chambers of parliament do?
Fundamentally, the functions of the House of Commons and House of Lords are different.
House of Commons is the source of the government and has special exclusive powers over income, expenditure and taxes. The House of Lords is tasked with scrutinising and revising legislation, as well as checking and challenging the government. But, in practice, the House of Lords’ essential functions have been restrained by the chamber’s lack of democratic legitimacy, which has made it at times too fearful to scrutinise and challenge the government effectively.
While the Lords can question the government during Lords Questions, and suggest amendments to legislation before it becomes law, a government defeat in the Lords is not the same as a defeat in the Commons.
Find out more about the power and function of the House of Lords
An elected second chamber could still have a different route of entry, via a different electoral system, a different (smaller) size, longer terms, and retain the current chamber’s vital scrutiny role – ensuring they had a different perspective to the Commons. If they were elected by us, the public, then the second chamber could have a real democratic mandate for their scrutiny. Meaning better legislation in the long run.
What do you think?
Do you think that the House of Lords urgently needs to be reformed? Add your name.