Paper Summary:

This paper explains why the U.K. has a House of Lords, how it has developed and whether people and politicians see it as relevant today. The paper also looks at the proposals of each of the parties concerning the House of Lords as outlined in the party's manifestos. The paper concludes that the ultimate answer to the need for further reform can be found within the definitions of 'democracy' as 'rule by the people'. However, reform to this degree seems impossible at this time; therefore, the author recommends a 50:50 split of elected members and non elected members as the best solution.

From the Paper:

'In to the 20th century more reforms were to come, and from the late 19th Century were in great demand as the democratic principle was more widely accepted. Unsurprisingly the Conservative dominated House fought hard to contest reform obstructing Liberal bills, a political scrap that led to the Parliament Bill. Past in 1911 the Parliament Bill included a vision of an elected House of Lords, but unfortunately the vision was never realized. It took 58 years before it looked like change would come again. The Labour Government, led by Harold Wilson in 1969 introduced the Parliament (No. 2) Bill seeking to phase out the hereditary peers."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Fairclough, P. (2005). The Lords and the Senate. Politics Review, 14(3), 20 - 23.
• Fairclough, P., Kelly, R., & Magee, E. (2008). Annual Survey 2008 UK Government and Politics. London: Hodder Education.
• Great Britain. House of Lords Briefing. (2007). The History of The House of Lords. London: HMRC
• Heywood, A. (2008). Essentials of UK Politics. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
• Jones, B., Kavanagh, D., Moran, M. & Norton, P. (2007). Politics UK. (6th Ed.). Pearson Education Ltd: Essex.

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