The House of Lords in a Contemporary UK Poliitics — страница 10

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beyond five years. A further restriction is a constitutional convention known as the Salisbury Convention, which means that the House of Lords does not oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto. There is a constitutional convention that the House of Lords should not spend more than 60 days over bills sent to them by the Commons. By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the House of Lords is further restrained insofar as financial bills are concerned. The House of Lords may neither originate a bill concerning taxation or Supply (supply of treasury or exchequer funds), nor amend a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related provision. (The House of Commons, however, often waives its privileges and allows the Upper House to make

amendments with financial implications.) Moreover, the Upper House may not amend any Supply Bill. The House of Lords formerly maintained the absolute power to reject a bill relating to revenue or Supply, but this power was curtailed by the Parliament Acts. Historically, the House of Lords held several judicial functions. The Lords' judicial functions originated from the ancient role of the Curia Regis as a body that addressed the petitions of the King's subjects. The functions were exercised not by the whole House, but by a committee of "Law Lords". The Lords is not a static institution. Like other key British institutions, it has changed and evolved through its history, and will continue to do so. This has never been more evident than in the last century, which saw major changes

to the Lords – from the Parliament. Lords check the work of the Government by questioning and debating decisions made by ministers and government departments. Legislative scrutiny will continue to be an important purpose of a reformed second chamber. The present House of Lords has the power explicitly to ask the Government and the House of Commons to look again at legislation and to delay its enactment. The Government accepts that power of this sort is a proper function of a second chamber. In the United Kingdom, the two Houses of Parliament have evolved in such a way that the House of Lords shares some of the functions of the House of Commons but has no separate tasks apart from its judicial work. In the law-making process for example, the House of Lords can discuss and

revise bills that come from the House of Commons. In other words, the Lords mostly does the same as it has done for the last hundred years, which is to act as a restraint on the power of the Government to legislate. CONCLUSION The House of Lords, as it exists today, is thus the product of a long evolutionary process. The House of Lords has a number of functions within Parliament considering and amending legislation, questioning the Government through debates and questions to Ministers, debating matters of public interest and carrying out specialist investigations through select committees of the House. We can easily say that, the House of Lords has four objectives in its legislative scrutiny work . It tries to increase the transparency of the reasoning supporting the proposed

legislation. It can stimulate the Department to give further consideration to matters which give rise to concern. Involving civil society in its work strengthens the element of participatory (or at least consultative) democracy in the legislative process. The legislative powers of the House of Lords will remain unaltered. These are all important jobs for a second chamber, and the increasing volume and complexity of Government work and Government legislation means that both the workload of the House of Lords is increasing and its contribution to the legislative process is greater. The Upper House must complement the strengths and weaknesses of the Commons. The elected Commons represents the political nation, and is therefore necessarily supreme; it must have the final say to

preserve core accountability. The Upper House must enhance the work of the Lower House and provide a differing point of view. The role of the Lords differs from the Commons, whose job it is to represent the public and pass bills from the Government. The Lords do not have to represent their constituents views and are under no pressure from Party Leadership. The Lords is also a debating chamber and some extent the House of Lords can reward for deficient scrutiny of legislation by the House of Commons. Though the powers of the Lords are limited by 1911 and 1949 Acts but the fact is that the House of Lords exercise the functions of a second chamber very well. The second chamber is needed to assist in the legislative process, it works to revise legislation ensuring it is coherent and