Member News
The government may face increasing opposition in the House of Lords as questions are raised about whether the tradition that sees manifesto commitments pass applies to the coalition.
In a report published today, the House of Commons political and constitutional reform committee warned that a coalition government’s programme, drawn up after an election, cannot have the same mandate as a party manifesto which is available to the people before they vote.
MPs said a possible consequence was that members of the House of Lords may not feel bound by the Salisbury-Addison convention which governs the relationship between the Commons and the Lords.
The tradition has been that the unelected peers do not vote against measures included in the governing party's manifesto or subject them to "wrecking amendments" which would change the government's intentions.
But it has been left up to individual peers to determine whether to apply the convention to current legislation emerging from the coalition programme for government.
The committee recommended that one way to address the lack of a direct mandate is to ensure that the House of Commons is given the opportunity to subject the government’s proposals to full pre-legislative scrutiny.
The problem has been exposed in the current wrangling in the Lords over the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill.
A senior peer told ePolitix.com's sister publication The House Magazine last week that some members "can’t face coming in on a Monday" due to the "very unfortunate atmosphere" in the Lords.
And the convener of the crossbench peers, Baroness D'Souza, has warned that the break down of the traditions and conventions could even mark the beginning of the end of the Lords in its current form.
"The tactics that the Opposition are using to delay the Bill fly in the face of the conventions that have governed this House for perhaps the past six decades," she said.
"These tactics undoubtedly bring this House into disrepute, that any success of such tactics may well encourage their further future use, and that these factors put together may even mark the beginning of the dissolution of this House."
Article Comments
You're wrong because the House of Lords will pick its fights - mainly on constitutional matters.
They've accepted all other Government bills this Parliament.
Jack Simpson
28th Jan 2011 at 1:44 pm
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