The House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the British Parliament but the less powerful part of it. The division of Parliament goes back over some 700 years when a feudal assembly assisted the King. In modern times, real political power rests with the House of Commons, although members of the House of Lords may occupy important cabinet posts.

The work of the House of Lords includes examining and revising bills from the House of Commons and discussing important matters which the Commons cannot find time to debate.

The Speaker of the House of Lords who is usually a member of the Cabinet is the Lord Chancellor. Te special seat on which the Lord Chancellor sits in the British Parliament is called the woolsack.

For a very long time the members of the House of Lords were not elected but had their positions because of their rank or title of honour. It consisted of nearly 1,200 non-elected members: over 550 hereditary peers, Bishops who are leaders of the Church of England – they are called the Lords Spiritual, and over 500 life peers – they are those men and women who were given a title as a reward for important public service. It was Harold Macmillan who in 1958 established life peers and also introduced women to the Lords.

Among the House of Lords are the Law Lords, altogether about 30, who sit as the highest Court of Appeal in England.

For more than a century people tired to abolish the Lords, ironically calling the Upper House ‘the best club in London’. So, in October 1999 the House of Lords brought down the curtain on 800 years of its history when it backed the Government’s plans to expel hereditary peers from Parliament. Labour, Liberal Democrats and crossbench peers united to back the Bill. Peers voted by 221 to 81, a government majority of 140, in favour of the Bill. As a result, the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords was abolished.

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