Page 221 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes industries and many of them are related to the leading business magnates. It shows the class
character of the House of Lords.
• The class character of the House of Lords has made it a sworn defender of the policies of the
Conservative party. It is irrevocably wedded to the programmes desired by the Conservative
party. The result is that whenever there is a Conservative government, it finds its natural support
in the House of Lords, but when there is a Labour Government, it finds its natural opposition,
sometimes hostile, in this body.
• The House is characterised by mass absenteeism. Its quorum is only three while total membership
exceeds one thousand. It is essential that there be at least 30 members to pas a bill. General
attendance is hardly one hundred.
• The House of Lords performs hardly any positive service to the country. It has become so
powerless that it cannot exercise effective control over the government and can do nothing
beyond the delay of one month in the passage of money bill and of a year in case of other bills.
• In contrast to the argument of abolishing the House of Lords, some reasons are given to justify
the existence of this body on account of some of its useful services. There are:
• The British people are essentially conservative and they do not favour any radical view of
finishing their old institutions.
• An argument applicable to the utility of an upper chamber, that it acts as a check on the hasty,
rash and ill-considered legislation, is applicable in this direction as well. A bill passed by the
House of Commons (other than a money bill) can be revised by the Lords in a way possibly
acceptable to the House of Commons causing no disagreement between the two chambers; it
can also be rejected by it to cause the delay of at least one year in which a healthy public opinion
may come up to act as a potential check upon the haste of the lower chamber.
• The House of Lords still performs some useful services. It acts as the highest court of appeal in
civil and criminal cases for England and Northern Ireland and in civil cases for Scotland and
Wales. A look at the history of British politics shows that it has seen the services of many
distinguished leaders of the country. The quality of the debates is of a very high order.
• By way of conclusion, it may be pointed out that the House of Lords should not be ended but
mended in a way that it no longer lives like a political anachronism and its reformed character
does not come into the way of the authority of the House of Commons. It should neither be a
replica of the lower House rendering it superfluous; nor should it be entrusted with some
potential power making it a mischievous organ of the Parliament. Indisputable is the fact that
the House of Lords, a rendezvous of retired statesmen and a storehouse of knowledge and
administrative experience, has proved to be a very good revising and delaying chamber.
• It has also been described as the “major political body in a bicameral legislature, omnicompetent
and sovereign.”
• The House of Commons is essentially a law-making body. The Parliament Act of 1911 lays
down that a money bill shall be initiated in the House of Commons and the Lords must pass it
within a period of one month.
• The House of Commons has financial powers as well. It is said that the purse of the nation is in
the hands of the Commons. All money bills and budget must be passed by the Parliament. It is
the government which prepares a money bill and budget and presents them to the House with
monarch’s formal recommendation.
• The functions and powers of the Speaker may be discussed under three heads - as presiding
officer of the House, as executive officer of the House and, finally, as the defender of the dignity
of the House. In the first place, the Speaker is the chairman of the House and by virtue of this
capacity he acts as its presiding officer. He acts as the chairman (unless the House meets as
Committee of the Whole House) when the House meets, calls the meetings in order, recognizes
the members who want to speak, asks a member to withdraw words or apologise in the event
of making an unparliamentary expression, names a member if his behaviour-is repeatedly
offensive to the dignity of the House, maintains discipline in the House and even asks his
Sergeant-at-arms to push out a member if he refuses to leave the chamber.

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