1. Key topic: Parliament (3) DO NOW Answer the following questions: 1.To the nearest 10, how many peers sit in the House of Lords? 2.To the nearest 5, how many of them are hereditary? 3.How many peers has David Cameron created since 2010? 4.To the nearest £5m, how much does it cost to run the House of Lords? 5.Who is the Conservative leader of the House of Lords?

2. Key topic: Parliament (3) DO NOW Answers 1.To the nearest 10, how many peers sit in the House of Lords? 792 2.To the nearest 5, how many of them are hereditary? 23 3.How many peers has David Cameron created since 2010? 117 4.To the nearest £5m, how much does it cost to run the House of Lords? £108mn 5.Who is the Conservative leader of the House of Lords? Lord Strathclyde

3. Learning objectives To consolidate our understanding of the functions of parliament To explain the impact of coalition government on parliament To relate these to other key topics studied to-date

4. Recap Watch the following short video about how a bill makes its way through the House of Lords.video Add to your notes from Tuesday’s lesson any details or observations that you don’t already have.

5. The coalition’s millstone? Read The Economist article concerning the 2012 House of Lords bill along with the extract from Lynch and Fairclough on Lord’s reform more generally (pp.208-9 and pp.211-13) Summarise the case for and against House of Lords reform as a series of bullet points. You will shortly be asked to relate these bullet points to the case for reform.

6. Reforming the House of Lords The House of Lords damages British democracy. Team A argues the case for Team B argues the case against Reflect and summarise using our agreed essay format

7. Further reading The following websites provide additional information if you wish to study this topic in greater depth: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/ gives an excellent explanation of how a bill is passed through Parliament. http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/passage-bill/ http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information- office/work-of-the-house-of-lords-2010-12.pdf is a report into the work of the Lords in 2010–12, and is full of detailed examples. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information- office/work-of-the-house-of-lords-2010-12.pdf http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of- lords/members-and-their-roles/how-members-are-appointed/ explains how peers are appointed. http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/whos-in-the-house-of- lords/members-and-their-roles/how-members-are-appointed/ https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/HL%20Reform%20briefin g%20paper.pdf is a great summary of the case for and against reform of the HOL https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/HL%20Reform%20briefin g%20paper.pdf

8. Parliamentary tradition Any attempt to drag parliament into the 20th century, let alone the 21st, is treated by a certain cadre of MPs as a heresy akin to taking a leak on the Bayeux Tapestry. Woven into the very fabric of Westminster are assumptions about who the building – and, by extension, our democracy – is intended to serve. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg takes to Parliament’s regulations like an impeccably suited duck to water, while other backbenchers who had been, say, bricklayers or heads of charities cheerfully admitted that they found the whole thing completely barmy. All the by-laws, the prayer cards to mark your seat, the juvenile heckling in the chamber... that comforts a certain type of person, because it reminds them of public school, the Oxford Union, the Travellers Club. Some Commons traditions are definitely worth preserving: every time on Queen’s Speech day that Black Rod is turned away from the House, it reminds us that we have a democracy only because our ancestors fought to disobey the monarch. Adapted from editorial The New Statesman (2014) Define the term Commons traditions as used in the extract. (5) Using your own knowledge as well as the extract, consider how far the legitimacy of parliament is affected by its lack of descriptive representation. (10) Topic 2 Parliament