A waste of time or due process? Neil Parpworth reports on the Lords debating the Lords
- The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill has completed its committee stage, involving extensive debates on more than 100 amendments.
- Proposals included a mandatory retirement age and attendance requirements for peers, but the government maintained that the Bill wasn’t the right vehicle for those changes.
- After 22.5 hours of parliamentary time, the Bill reported without amendments.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill has now completed its committee stage in the House of Lords. Behind this bald statement lies the fact that it was not an entirely smooth process, despite the Bill seeking to give effect to a manifesto commitment made by the government, and regardless of it having achieved substantial majorities at each stage of its progress in the House of Commons.
Of course, as several peers pointed out, even where a government has a mandate to introduce legislation, the second chamber still has a role to play in scrutinising and revising the Bills which come before it
