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The House of Lords Is Now More Effective Than the House of Commons in Checking Government Power. Discuss

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'The House of Lords is now more effective than the House of Commons in checking government power'. Discuss

In theory the House of Commons is the dominant chamber as it is elected while the House of Lords plays more of a revising role, issues to be considered include the powers of each chambers, the fact the House of Lords is more independently minded and the impact of the whips. It will ultimately be argued that the House of Commons remains far more effective due to having greater powers in checking the government power.

Firstly, the House of Commons has the ultimate check on government power via a vote of no confidence, this last happened in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was able to be elected due to the Labour government's failure. The vote of no confidence allows the House of Commons to directly confront the government which creates a mutual respect between the government and the House of Commons as they can get rid of a government if they believe the government is failing to use its power correctly and effectively. Also, only the House of Commons has the power to reject legislation compared to the House of Lords which can only suspend the legislation for a maximum of 2 years. For example, in 2001 the House of Lords voted 317-68 against a fox hunting ban, and in 2004 they again threw out the plans for a complete ban, however in November 2004 the parliamentary act was invoked and the bill came into force in 2005.

However, the fact the House of Lords is more independently minded they are willing to check the executive. Crucially, there are a large number of cross benchers such as Lord Best which allows for personal opinions to be heard as most of them don't need to stick with their party. Also, whips have far less impact on the peers careers as most them have been part of parliament or government meaning they don't care if they raise a few eyebrows in their

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