The Changing Role of the House of Lords

The House of Lords has been the subject of long-term research at the Constitution Unit. Our former Director, Professor Meg Russell, is considered a leading voice on the House of Lords, both in terms of how the chamber operates and options for its reform.

Major research outputs on the House of Lords include Professor Russell’s Oxford University Press book, The Contemporary House of Lords: Westminster Bicameralism Revived, and a Constitution Unit report, Enough is Enough: Regulating Appointments to the House of Lords, which helped to encourage action on tackling the size of the chamber. Most recently, she has published a report, House of Lords Reform: Navigating the Obstacles, which outlines the options for short and long term reforms to the House of Lords.

Professor Russell has in the past been a specialist adviser to the House of Lords Appointments Commission and the Lord Speaker’s Committee on the Size of the House (of Lords). Today, she provides frequent commentary on the chamber’s work and on live issues, such as the Prime Minister’s peerage appointments.

Notable outputs

The Contemporary House of Lords: Westminster Bicameralism Revived

This book, published in 2013, is the result of a long-term study of the House of Lords undertaken by Meg Russell. It is the most complete published work about the Lords: its history, membership, current role in the policy process and options for reform. 

House of Lords Reform: Navigating the Obstacles

This 2023 report discusses what the House of Lords does, summarises successful and unsuccessful proposals for reform in the past, explores public opinion about the Lords and discusses what the key reform objectives and priorities should be.

Government defeats in the House of Lords

Since 2005, the Unit has also published a record of all government defeats in the House of Lords. We produce this record on our website and it is also possible to sign up to receive notifications of government defeats in the House of Lords.

Image attribution: ‘Humble Address’ by House of Lords (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).