Lords face time limit under new law

13 April 2012

New legislation will be created to place a maximum limit on the amount of time Bills can spend in the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor revealed today.

Announcing further reform of the upper house, Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC said a joint committee would be set up to review the conventions of the house.

A strategy document published today said: "This will be followed by legislation to change the procedures so that there is a maximum limit on the time Bills spend in the upper house."

The Government will then remove remaining hereditary peers and allow a free vote on the future composition of the House of Lords.

Lord Falconer insisted that the measures would not be designed to limit the power of the peers.

"The proposal is to identify clearly what the Lords does and in what timescale," he said. "It's not intended to limit their powers at all.

"Nothing we do is going to prevent the Lords rejecting bits of legislation or whole pieces of legislation."

The joint committee would review the conventions by which the Lords operates, such as whether peers refrain from opposing the Government's manifesto commitments.

"I believe those conventions exist and that they work on a day-to-day basis," said the Lord Chancellor. "But on occasion, such as the Hunting Bill, they are breached."

The new committee would help reach a "common understanding" on exactly what the conventions were, he added.

"That doesn't mean that people will always comply with them, but if people know what they are then I'm sure that will have an effect."

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