It is common for a democratic parliamentary system to have a bicameral legislature, with a directly elected lower chamber and a second, revising chamber. The United Kingdom is unusual in that its second chamber is largely nominated rather than elected, and those that are not nominated are drawn from the hereditary aristocracy.
There has been much recent debate about how the House of Lords should be reformed – with the expulsion of most of the hereditaries a notable change – but the British system is still archaic compared with most other countries.
Articles
You can find the archive of Federal Union articles on reform of the House of Lords here.
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US-style senators
Timothy Garton Ash, thinking about possible changes to the British constitution, writes of the House of Lords that “We can’t have US-style senators because we don’t have US-style states.” (Item […]
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A report on the House of Lords reveals too much centralisation in England
An elegant investigation by the New Local Government Network has revealed that members of the appointed House of Lords are not evenly spread across the country. A disproportionate number live […]
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Latest proposals on Lords reform will make little difference
A new White Paper has been published on reform of the House of Lords, the latest in a long series of such publications since Labour won the election in 1997. […]