What is your opinion about the House of lords?

Question

Do you think it's outdated or it still has it's usefulness, with all the peers ladies and lords?.

Thank you for your replies!.

Answer 1

Those who have already answered with phrases such as 'Bunch of old farts pretending they're working.... and getting REAL wages and lots of perks.' or of them being out of touch and out of date clearly have absolutely no idea how the Chamber operates and haven't actually investigated it.

It's the single busiest and most active legislative chamber in Europe - beating the House of Commons.

It's full of highly professional and accomplished experts from all walks of life - unlike the Commons which is full of political apparatchiks.

These professionals are part-time legislators and still work in the fields they are experts in, and so keep up to date and fresh - in this capacity they represent a different constituency and a different yet equal legitimacy to the elected MPs of the Commons.

They are appointed for life, and none but a majority vote in the House of Lords can remove them.  This allows the Lords to carry a long-term consideration of legislation, and also renders them virtually immune to populism, the fads of society, and just as importantly, pressure, threats and bribery from the Government and the Whips.

Because of this the Lords has a high number of rebellions with the political parties.  Compare this to the House of Commons.  On average, the Government is defeated in the Lords about 50 times a year.  I can count the number of Government defeats in the Commons in the last decade on one hand.

The Lords do NOT take wages.  They receive an 'attendance allowance' of about £60 for every day they participate in debate.  Even if they attend every debate on every day (which MPs in the Commons, let alone the Lords, do not manage), it is a fraction of the salary the MPs receive.

The names of Lords and Baroness may seem archaic, but it allows the members to be constantly reminded of their unique position as arbitrators and learned legislators to protect the lower House from itself.

The House of Lords is the best and last defence the British Parliament has against an overburdensome Government which controls the lower House.  If we abolished it in favour of an elected Chamber, expect to see Government become even more dominant, force more legislation through, expect taxes to rise (to meet the greater costs of this Chamber - the Lords cost roughly half that of the Commons), and expect the efficiency of legislation to suffer.

There is such a thing as too many elections, and we do not need them in the Lords.

Answer 2

it's still good :-)

it actually causes debate on issues and all those peers are more than simple rich idiots you know! they hold high end experience for every industry/social path

i think it's needed more then ever, especially due to the cattle like stance of some MPs and party whips in the commons

if an issue is that important, the lords can keep circulating it around the commons and the lords until it is 'right' - unless they've been bought by brown grrrr

Answer 3

It's the only thing keeping Brown and his cohorts under control

Answer 4

Unelected, egocentric, becloaked, efeminate idiots, living in an antiquated mindset of archaic, traditional nonesense that belongs in the garbage bin of absurd history.

Answer 5

Bunch of old farts pretending they're working.... and  getting REAL wages and lots of perks.