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O.K. am i correct that the House of Lords is the upper chamber of Parliament. But do they actually make laws or are they a ceremonial body. I always see on C-Span the Prime Ministers report to Parliament where i used to always watch Tony Blair take questions from members of the House of Commons but i have never seen the House of Lords in session.
The House of Lords is regularly in session and there is nothing ceremonial about its duties, though it does have a symbolic quality.
Once a potential statute or amendment has been debated and passed through Parliament it is then open for debate in the Lords, where they too can agree and pass it or send it back to Parliament if they consider it unacceptable or feel it needs adjusting etc. Only in extreme cases can the House of Lords' judgement be bypassed by an Act of Parliament, pushing the statues into the books without their assent.
The Lords gives the British political system a level of expertise lacking in Parliament, the House of Commons, while filled with many excellent and capable people, does not have the experts and impartiality that the unelected House of Lords has, with its Law Lords, Temporal and Spiritual etc, as well as the hereditary nobility and life peers.
Right on and thanks ayava as you taught me something new on this. So Parliament is just the House of Commons and not the House of Lords as i always thought it was both Houses.
Interesting on what you said that happens in the House of Lords in their legislative action.
The House of Lords is regularly in session and there is nothing ceremonial about its duties, though it does have a symbolic quality.
Once a potential statute or amendment has been debated and passed through Parliament it is then open for debate in the Lords, where they too can agree and pass it or send it back to Parliament if they consider it unacceptable or feel it needs adjusting etc. Only in extreme cases can the House of Lords' judgement be bypassed by an Act of Parliament, pushing the statues into the books without their assent.
The Lords gives the British political system a level of expertise lacking in Parliament, the House of Commons, while filled with many excellent and capable people, does not have the experts and impartiality that the unelected House of Lords has, with its Law Lords, Temporal and Spiritual etc, as well as the hereditary nobility and life peers.
Thank you for putting things so well.
The House of Lords are a way of moderating the potential excesses and ill thought out ideas of the Commons.
I always thought that the House of Lords was a rubber stamp for the House of Commons, and has about the same level of power as the queen. Is it one of those situations where, like the queen, they have a lot of power, but in practice, do not exercise it?
What about the knights? They have no political say just the title and representation of the UK kind of like the Queen.
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Is it one of those situations where, like the queen, they have a lot of power, but in practice, do not exercise it?
