| What is the Salisbury Convention? | Lords cannot obstruct proposed legislation that was in the government's last election campaign |
| What is the 1911 Parliament Act? | House Of lords has no legislative control of financial matters |
| What is the 1949 Parliament Act? | Bills can only be delayed by the House Of Lords for a year |
| What powers do the commons have? | The Commons has supreme legislative power and ‘confidence and supply’ powers |
| What are ‘confidence’ powers? | the government only exists as long as it has the confidence of the Commons, and if defeated on a motion of confidence the government would step down, prompting a general election. |
| What is supreme legislative power? | the chamber proposes and passes laws, and can stop bills from being passed into law |
| What are ‘supply’ powers? | ‘Supply’ refers to the Commons granting the government money through supporting legislation involving the supply of taxation |
| What powers do the Lords have? | The Lords can delay bills passed by the Commons by up to one year and the Lords also has some veto powers |
| What limitations do the Lords have? | They cannot delay ‘money bills’ (bills with a significant financial aspect) or bills which were specifically outlined in the governing party’s manifesto |
| Why can the Commons be argued to be more powerful than the Lords? | Lords can only delay bills, and suggest amendments, which can then be overturned by the Commons, Commons can actually vote down legislation, unlike the Lords, Commons can actually vote down legislation, unlike the Lords |
| Why can the Lords be argued to be powerful at challenging the government | Party control is much weaker as Lords don’t need to be re-elected, so the government can’t rely even on their own party peers backing them, the More political balance in the Lords- no one party dominates, |
| Democratically, why can the Commons be argued to be more powerful than the Lords? | Commons is democratically legitimate- they have more of a right to challenge government |
| Why are the Lords more effective at scrutiny than the commons? | More expertise/specialist knowledge- this means bills are potentially more carefully and effectively scrutinised, Peers are from a range of backgrounds, so represent different groups and interests in society- this gives them some legitimacy |
