Tag: Richard Reid
The Lords are unlikely to derail or overly delay the passage of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill
Richard Reid explains why the House of Lords is unlikely to derail or overly delay the passage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill that is about to be introduced into the Chamber. He contends that while the mood of the House regarding Brexit is difficult to tell, it seems that there is little appetite for a direct collision with the government in the form of blocking or wrecking the bill. However, we are likely to see some successful amendments regarding the acquis, devolution and Parliamentary sovereignty that will win support from across the party groupings.
Another Lords review bites the dust. What will it take to reform the second chamber?
The long saga of abortive Lords reforms goes on. Theresa May has added a new chapter by backing off from her predecessor’s plans to strip the second chamber of its power to vote down statutory instruments – the main form of delegated legislation, which are vital to the UK government’s extensive executive powers and to implementing Brexit. […]
Reforming Australia’s Senate means ensuring Indigenous people are represented
Before the 2016 federal election in July, Australia’s coalition government demonstrated a rare degree of collaboration with the Greens and passed changes to reform the electoral process for the Senate. Richard Reid explains the reform and its intentions – and its complete failure in the wake of Australia’s double dissolution election. He argues the debate about Senate reform should go […]
How democratic is the UK’s House of Lords, and how could it be reformed?
As part of the 2017 Audit of UK Democracy, Sonali Campion, Sean Kippin and the DA team examine how the UK’s deeply controversial current second chamber, the House of Lords, matches up to the criteria for liberal democracies with bi-cameral legislatures. Now an almost-all appointed Chamber, the House of Lords has had some prominent or more bipartisan influence on moderating Commons […]
The best of Democratic Audit’s 2015 coverage of Parliament and Parliamentary reform
2015 has been an eventful year as far as Parliament is concerned. Despite developments concerning the election, Committees, the House of Lords, party funding, and lobbying, the fundamentals of the system remain the same. Here, Democratic Audit provide the best of our coverage of parliament, parliamentary reform, and related issues. Similar PostsAudit 2017: How democratic […]
The Conservatives will not ‘suspend’ the House of Lords, but neither will they reform it
The government’s plans to cut tax credits might just be threatened with a ‘fatal motion’ in the House of Lords today. Unnamed ministers have threatened peers in turn with suspension. Richard Reid explains how the Lords can get involved in statutory instruments. He argues that this is another case where peers must walk a fine line between being neither […]
Is a British Senate any closer now? Or will the House of Lords still go on and on?
Labour enters the 2015 election pledged to make creating a British Senate a key part of a new Constitutional Convention. The SNP surge in Scotland gives much greater urgency to the idea, since a new upper House could be one of the most important components for re-binding together a fully federal UK. Richard Reid and […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.