The Changing Role of the House of Lords Post-1999

Sponsor: ESRC
Principal Investigator: Dr Meg Russell
Dates: 2004 - 2011

This project forms one strand of Meg Russell's 3-year ESRC-funded Fellowship. The project continues research previously entitled 'A More Legitimate & Powerful Upper House? The Semi-reformed House of Lords' which ran from August 2004 - October 2007. This project was sponsored by the ESRC, with Meg Russell as Principal Investigator and Maria Sciara as Research Assistant.

When the House of Lords is discussed this is almost inevitably in connection with its reform, which is seen as incomplete following the removal of most hereditary peers from the chamber in 1999. But the House of Lords is perpetually seen as "unreformed", with proposals for change having been made for over a century. This means the opportunity has often been missed to study the chamber as it is, and its impact on the policy process. Given that the next stage of reform may, like previous ones, be long delayed, such study is important. This project therefore focuses on the contemporary House, and particularly on how it has changed since the 1999 reform. Publications in the first phase of the project (2004-2007) asked questions about the strength and confidence of the House of Lords, perceptions of its "legitimacy", and the real policy impact of government defeats. Research methods included study of parliamentary records, questionnaire surveys and interviews with peers, and public opinion surveys. A complete record of all members and all "divisions" (votes) in the chamber since November 1999 has been compiled in database form. The second phase of the project (2008-2011) will continue collection of some of this data, and generate new publications. These will include broader analyses of the impact of Lords reform in 1999 on the British parliament, and its lessons for bicameralism in a comparative sense.

Readers interested in the House of Lords should also check the pages for our past project on lessons from overseas and our Lords reform commentaries.

Online Resources:

• Lords defeats update: The project has compiled a detailed record of all government defeats in the House of Lords since 1999 to the present day.
• Votes on Lords reform, March 2007: We also provide a breakdown of votes in the 2007 House of Lords on Lords reform by party, with lists of members voting each way.

Publications:

• A Stronger Second Chamber? Assessing the Impact of House of Lords Reform in 1999, and the Lessons for Bicameralism in Political Studies (Early View available online)
• House of Lords Reform: Are We Nearly There Yet? in Political Quarterly March 2009 (available online without subscription)
• Independent Parliamentarians En Masse: The Changing Nature and Role of the 'Crossbenchers' in the House of Lords in Parliamentary Affairs January 2009
• The Policy Impact of Defeats in the House of Lords in British Journal of Politics and International Relations October 2008
• Peers’ and Public Attitudes to the Contemporary House of Lords Briefing for a seminar in the House of Lords, December 2007
• Why does the Government get defeated in the House of Lords? in British Politics July 2007
• Reform of the British House of Lords: A Test of Lijphart and Tsebelis ECPR Conference Paper 2007
• Bicameral Parliamentary Scrutiny of Government Bills: A Case Study of the Identity Cards Bill PSA Conference Paper 2007
• The House of Lords in 2006: Negotiating a Stronger Second Chamber (available to order)
• Legitimacy and Bicameral Strength: A Case Study of the House of Lords PSA Research Group Paper 2006
• The House of Lords in 2005: A more Representative and Assertive Chamber (available to order)
• Views from Peers, MPs and the Public on the Legitimacy and Powers of the House of Lords December 2005

Newspaper and Magazine Articles:

• Ending the Patronage of Peerages Meg Russell in the Guardian's Comment is Free (December 2007)
• Ditch the Pantomime Meg Russell in the Guardian's Comment is Free on the Queen's Speech (November 2007)
• A House of Cards? Meg Russell writing in Parliamentary Brief (May 2007)
• The Demons no longer Exist: Maybe before we reform the House of Lords we should make more of an effort to understand it in its current form Meg Russell in the Guardian's Comment is Free (March 2007)
• Lords a'leaping: Some quick and symbolic measures could go a long way to reviving Britain’s ailing democracy Meg Russell's article in Progress (February 2007)

Lectures and Other Public Events:

• Lords Reform: Principles and Prospects Meg Russell's lecture at the invitation of the Leader of the House of Lords, 13 November 2007
• Are we Seeing a New Golden Age of Parliament? Meg Russell speaking at a British Academy Discussion Evening, Thursday 5 July 2007
• Reforming an Unelected Upper House: The Strange Rebirth of the House of Lords Paper to Conference on Transforming Canadian Governance Through Senate Reform University of British Columbia, 19-20 April 2007
• Reforming the British House of Lords: How a Little Reform Can go a Long Way Meg Russell speaking at the Australian Senate, 8 December, 2006

Evidence to Parliamentary Committees:

• Meg Russell's written evidence to the House of Lords Information Committee, 27 April 2009.
• Meg Russell’s oral evidence to the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, 25 October 2007.
• Meg Russell's oral evidence to the Canadian Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, 22 March 2007, for their inquiry on Senate reform (starts approximately half way through the sitting).
• Meg Russell's oral evidence to the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Conventions, 18 July 2006.

Press Releases:

• 20.07.09: Lords Reform: Today's incremental reforms welcome
• 18.12.07: Constitution Unit welcomes 'cash for honours' recommendations. New poll shows clear public support for trustworthy appointments and coverage by the The Guardian and The Times.
• 12.12.07: Poll shows surprise result on public priorities for Lords reform Poll of peers confirms growing confidence of the House of Lords
• 19.07.07: Survey shows peers ready for limited Lords reform
• 29.03.07: Evidence Mounting of More Assertive House of Lords
• 07.03 07: House of Lords already getting stronger, and this will continue however MPs vote. But some minor reform essential
• 07.02.07: New Lords reform plans provide opportunity for “a real clean-up”
• 05.02.07: Whether or not Jack Straw’s reform package succeeds, the Lords is getting stronger
• 01.03.06 House of Lords is Strengthening, suggests Constitution Unit (1 March 2006)
• 12.12.05 Lords should block Government legislation say public and MPs (12 Dec 05)

Senior Researcher: Meg Russell
Research Assistant: Meghan Benton

This page last modified 13 November, 2009 by v.spence@ucl.ac.uk

Related Links:
Parliament homepage
Reforming the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas
Lords Reform Commentaries