2023 Volume 74 Issue 1 Pages 1_178-1_201
The parliamentary government and bicameral system are fundamental institutions in the British polity and are incrementally evolved. The raison d’être of the House of Lords is under debate in majoritarian democracy, which has a concentration of executive power in single-party majority cabinets based on the confidence of the House of Commons. The contemporary House of Lords mainly comprises appointed life peers because nearly all hereditary peers are excluded. The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act is enforced prior to the first reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill, which would introduce elected members into the House of Lords, although the Act is repealed after the Bill was abandoned. Therefore, the discretionary dissolution power of the Prime Minister is revived. The impact of the House of Lords is typically noted in Government defeats relevant to civil liberty and constitutionality. The raison d’être of the House of Lords is frequently expressed as checks and balances, complement and deliberation. It is recognized that the House of Lords is highly specialist and less political chamber compared with the House of Commons. The contemporary House of Lords possesses “input legitimacy,” “procedural legitimacy,” and “output legitimacy”. Lastly, the House also holds “expertise legitimacy” instead of democratic legitimacy.