The House of Lords is criticised by some commentators on grounds of cost. The criticisms are often levelled without any benchmark against which to assess value. In a post on my own blog, I have drawn attention to the problems of ascribing a monetary value to the work of the House, not least in terms…
One of the principal provisions of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 – a Private Member’s Bill steered through Parliament by Dan Byles MP and Lord Steel of Aikwood – was to enable peers to retire. Since its enactment, a good number have made use of the provision. Several leading figures have retired in recent…
I have already drawn attention to the work of the Constitution Committee on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and our recent interim report on the measure. (You can read the report here.) We are now embarking on an inquiry into the Bill. We began with our first evidence session last Wednesday (1 November) when we took evidence…
The House of Lords Constitution Committee is required to report to the House on Bills of constitutional significance. The Committee’s practice is to publish a report once a Bill arrives in the House. However, the constitutional significance of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which has just been introduced in the Commons, is such that the…
Each session, the House of Lords not only re-appoints its investigative sessional select committees (communications, constitution, economic affairs, European Union, international relations, and science and technology), it also appoints ad hoc committees to examine particular topics during the course of the session. It used to appoint one a session, but it moved in the 2010-15 Parliament…
