What Is the Point of the House of Lords?

What Is the Point of the House of Lords? The House of Lords is a fundamental part of the UKs bicameral legislative system, being an appropriate check and balance to the House of Commons in legislative matters. However, this has been brought into question after the Recent Welfare Reform Bill. This essay aims to examine ‘what is the point in the House of Lords?’ It will first look into its history, then its role in Parliament and how it has changed over time. It will focus on the welfare reform bill and the ban on hunting with hounds as its main examples. The House of Lords are also called the Upper Chamber and are a part of the legislature. Legislature is the part of government that discuss and pass laws (Jones, 2010). It is made up of the Commons, Lords and the Queen, only the Commons are elected. The executive is the party in power and is responsible for implementing the laws and policies made by legislature (Jones, 2010). The Houses of Parliament are divided up into two parts, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords is one of the two chambers of HM Parliament. The House of Lords is the second chamber of Parliament and is also called the Upper House (Jones, 2010). The House of Lords is separate to but works alongside the elected House of Commons. The House of Lords are made up of inherited Lords and Life peers. Modern Lords are appointed by the PM. The appointed peers tend to have a specialist area of knowledge, for example health or education. The House of Commons is made up of elected members (Budge, 2004). The House of Lords has 736 members, 86 more than the House of Commons. There are only 92 hereditary Lords left after they were thrown out by the Labour Government in 1999 as it was deemed undemocratic (Knight 2010). The first part of the House of Lords is the remaining hereditary members, the second part are appointed by the Prime Minister and they are given their titles, for example ‘Lady Margaret Thatcher’ so as she was given the title by the Prime Minister who took over from her she had a seat in the House of Lords. The third part is made up of the court system and the church and people in positions of expertise (Monroe, 2002). Before taking a seat in The House of Lords the peer has to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch (Jones, 2010). The House of Lords is a combination of tradition and modern legislature (Monroe, 2002) Laws are only made if the Commons, Lords and the Monarch can agree. An unwritten constitution (a convention), states that the Monarch has always got to agree to new laws made by Parliament. The Lords can also only suggest amendments too legislation but does not actually have the power to make the changes, meaning the Commons hold the power (Budge, 2004). The legislative process starts with the draft papers, white and green papers. They are published to allow consultation from interested parties such as professional bodies and voluntary organisations before the bill is introduced into the House of Commons (Jones, 2010). They have their first reading in which it is just read out and then a second reading where there is a debate and a vote to move on to the committee stage which is pre-legislative scrutiny where the draft bill is considered by a departmental select committee this allows the MPs and members of Lords to have an early influence on the Bill (Jones, 2010). In the committee s tage they vote for amendments and send it to the report stage. In the report stage they discuss the amendments; they then go to the Third reading which in the House of Lords. The key purpose of The House of Lords is voting on whether to accept or reject legislation drawn up by The House of Commons (Jones, 2010). Suggesting amendments to legislation drawn up by The House of Commons and debating legislation drawn up by the House of Commons, they can also introduce new laws to be debated. Although the important laws start the legislative process with the Commons, the House of Lords do draw up some legislation, for example ensuring children with special needs and disabilities have access to mainstream education or protecting the right to legal aid in welfare cases and insisting on equality of the NHS treatment for physical and mental illness (www.parliament.uk). Members spend nearly half their time in the House considering draft laws. All bills have to be considered by both Houses of Parliament before they can become law (Jones, 2010). The House of Commons send legislation to the House of Lords, in the form of the white paper, but the 1911 Act has taken away the ability for The House of Lords to stop legislation sent down by The House of Commons. This started when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George, suggested in 1909 the introduction of the first old age pension and a majority of the Lords voted against (Knight, 2010). The main purposes of the Act was 1) The House of Lords can only delay a money bill for one month, and 2) Limiting the time the Lords can delay a bill, meaning if it was rejected three times the Bill could receive Royal Assent without approval from The House of Lords (Gillespie, 2013.) This has only been used four times in the last twenty five years. One of these was to pass The Parliament Act of 1949 which was an amendment of the 1911 Act making it so the Lords could only reject the bill two times rather than three before it could be passed with Royal Assent (Gillespie, 2013). These Acts t ook a lot of power away from the Lords. The current PM is allegedly preparing to use the Parliament Act for the first time in ten years to push through the EU Referendum Bill into Law before the next election (Holehouse, 2014). â€Å"The Act is sometimes described as the nuclear option of parliamentary to break stalemates between the Commons and the Lords† (Holehouse, 2014). An MP was quoted saying â€Å"It shows that they really, really want it to happen. It also shows the Lords that they can’t mess with it†. Although the Lords have been stripped of a lot of their power, there are advantages to the Lords. There can be a lot more individual expression in the House of Lords (Knight, 2010). Many of its members have a lot of experience in different areas of life; with this experience making an important contribution to the progress of legislation and serves to caution the government of the day (Jones, 2010). The House of Lords are also responsible for holding government to account. Members in the Upper Chamber scrutinise the work of the government during question time and debates in the chamber. â€Å"In the 2012-13 session, members held the government to account with 7,324 oral and written questions and 193 debates on issues ranging from child poverty to immigration† (www.parliament.uk). The Lords can also moderate the Commons using their expertise and making sure nothing too radical is put through (www.parliament.uk). Peers have less to lose, being free thinkers. If an MP was to go against their party leader then they could be ignored when looking for a job although some do still have party affiliation and will vote on side of their party (Knight, 2010). Some people however, would argue that having the House of Lords is healthy for our system as it means it isn’t led by political machines with party agendas (Knight, 2010). ‘Ping ponging’ is the toing and froing of amendments to Bills between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. A good example of this is The Hunting with Hounds Act which experienced seven years of ‘ping ponging’ between the two houses. Three private members Bills were introduced by Labour MPs between 1992 and 1995 to ban hunting with no success (Garnett, 2007). However, in a 1997 manifesto Labour offered a free vote on the subject. In 1998 the Bill got its second reading in the Commons and was ‘talked out’ by the third reading (Garnett, 2007). In 2000 a new bill was proposed with a compromise of hunting with a licence, this was rejected by the commons and thrown out by the Lords. The Bill had been introduced too late to meet the terms of the Parliament Act of 1949. After Blair was re-elected in 2001 the ‘ping pong’ effect still continued, with the Commons passing a new Bill and the Lords rejecting it, until 2004 when the conditions of the Parliament Act 1949 had been met and the Bill was given Royal Assent (Garnett, 2007). The House of Lords Reform draft bill was introduced in 2011. The Reform wants to outline the powers and responsibility of the relationships between the two houses. This would define the point of ‘financial privilege’. This could be hard to reach an agreement on when it could be rejected and what kind of amendments the House of Lords could make before they were ‘wrecking amendments’ and what circumstances the Lords would be able to reject secondary legislation (draft house of lords reform bill: report session 2010-12, Vol. 1: Report). Originally ‘Financial Privilege’ was seen as something dealing with Bills dealing with supply and taxation. However in the recent reform bill it was used to reject a lot of the amendments by the Lords and to prevent the bill ‘ping ponging’. The financial implications were seen as big enough by the Speaker to grant financial privilege (Crampton, 2012). Financial privilege is being used a lot more reducing the effect of the Lords scrutiny. Despite the fact the House of Lords do not appear to hold much in the way of power, the House are specialists in different fields offering expertise advice. Also, peers do not have a party agenda and therefore pose employability risk in going against their party. This is useful as these limitations can prevent any radical changes in law. But without any power to have their amendments noted there is really no point in the House of Lords if they can be over ruled completely. Budge etal (2004). The New British Politics. 3rd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Crampton, C. (2012). Whats the point in the house of Lords?. Available: www.totalpolitics.com/blog/293317/whats-the-pont-of-the-house-of-lords.thtml. Last accessed 6th Jan 2014 Egawhary E. (2010). What is the new face of the house of commons. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8672770.stm . Last accessed 6th Jan 2014. Garnett M (2007). Exploring British Poitics. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Gillepie A (2013). The English Legal System. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jones etal (2010). Politics Uk. 7th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Knight, J (2010). British Politics for Dummies. West Sussex: John Wiley and sons Peele G (1995). Governing the UK. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. What the Lords does. Available: http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/work-of-the-house-of-lords/what-the-lords-does/. Last accessed 6th Jan 2014. Munroe, T (2002). An Intoduction to Politics, Lectures for first year students. 3rd ed. Mona Kingston 7, Jamaica: Canoe Press. Holehouse, M. (2014). David Cameron prepares nuclear option on EU referendum. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10526825/Cameron-prepares-nuclear-option-on-EU-referendum.html. Last accessed 6th Jan 2014 Draft house of lords reform bill: report session 2010-12, Vol. 1: Report . Y8158485

Misuse of Cell Phones

Misuse of Cell Phones Apart from the plenteous advantages of cell phones, it has become a nerve-wracking part of everyone’s life. In 21st century, we ought to get rid of its unnecessary, undue uses. â€Å"It's easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone. †Ã‚  Cell phone has reduced the distances, but wasting money and time on its needless use cannot be justified. Is it not imprudent?Elimination of our healthy activities and hobbies from our lives can impart a stern and austere effect on our health, attitude and social behaviour. In the past calming and relaxing in fresh environment and enjoying the nature was a good use of time. Cyber criminals are increasingly targeting mobile devices as they look to exploit consumer ignorance of potential security risks associated with smartphones. These criminals are diverting the youth- future of a country. Cell phone provider s are also distracting the youth-future of a country.Providing them with attractive packages they are making money and youth is confined to messaging and chatting only. Although using smartphones navigation system has improved very much but in England every year hundreds of causalities are reported which occur when someone is driving while using the cell phones. Misapplication of any technology is detrimental so everyone should be prudent and vigilant while using it. Technology is refining day by day but purchasing a new and precious cell phone with only few additional or surplus features in it can influence negative effects on your friends.One who cannot afford it would be distressed and distraught. So it leads to unbalancing in society. Overall technology and science have very much advantages, computer and internet are providing information in simplest way also it has changed way of communication. The level of our technology keeps on improving. Over the years, there have been many advancements and improvements that technology offers us. But need is to take the responsibility to get benefit of it. Cell phone providers should also take some steps to eradicate these critical things from the society.

CRJ 110 Final Exam - 3676 Words

1. What are the four definitional perspectives in contemporary criminology? A) The four definitional perspectives are legalistic, political, sociological, and psychological. 2. What is the definition of crime that the authors of your textbook have chosen to use? A) Crime is human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws. 3. What is the difference between crime and deviance? A) Crime violates a law and deviance violates social norms. 4. What is the legalistic approach to the study of crime? A) The legalistic approach to crime yields the moral high ground to powerful individuals who are able to influence the making of laws and the imposition†¦show more content†¦10. What are the major crimes on which data is gathered today? The major crimes that data is gathered on today are personal/violent crimes such as murder, rape, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes such as burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. 11. What is the â€Å"dark figure of crime?† A) The dark figure of crime is crimes that go unreported. They never make it into official crime statistics. Crime’s dark figure is sometimes glimpsed through offender self-reports, also known as offender self-report surveys, in which anonymous respondents without fear of disclosure or arrest are asked to report confidentially any violations of the criminal law that they have committed. 12. What is the role of criminological research in theory building? A) The goal of research in criminology is the construction of theories or models that allow for a better understanding of criminal behavior and the permit the development of strategies intended to address the problem of crime. 13. How can theories help us understand criminal behavior and design strategies intended to control such behavior? A) Theories help us to understand criminal behavior according to Kenneth R. Hoover by providing patterns for the

Living The American Dream Act - 863 Words

For many people today, living the American dream is as simple as waking up. Many young adults do not have to worry about deportation from the only country they have known as home. Nonetheless, 7.6% of the population in North Carolina’s school system is the sons or daughters of illegal immigrants and lack a legal status (Strauss). With the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) many of those young adults will be able to become American citizens. By passing the DREAM Act, this will allow for many of those young adults to attend a university, earn a taxable living, and purchase a home. The time to start thinking about a university is about the time a student enters the ninth grade. Unless that student is not a legal citizen, then the choices become very limited. Without the DREAM Act, being able to attend a university becomes almost impossible. It is because most universities ask for proof of residency before allowing the student to attend. This can b e very discouraging for the illegal students and become the reason for dropping out of high school before receiving a diploma. Only two and a half percent of the 31,000 illegal students will not graduate from high school (â€Å"CLOSING THE GAP†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). However, opponents of the DREAM Act, believe that by allowing illegal immigrants to attend universities; they would be taking sits from legal residents. This would put an unnecessary strain on the already overcrowded universities. This would also deplete theShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay986 Words   |  4 PagesThe American Dream has been a part of United States history since the country began. One can presume that the saying â€Å"all men†¦are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness† from Thomas Jefferson’s â€Å"Declaration of Independence† is the first known American Dream (US 1776). 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