From The Guardian

String of Lords defeats reflects concerns over PM and legislation

"In the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s landslide 2019 general election win, many assumed the political balance within the House of Lords had swung squarely behind the Conservatives after a decade of ennoblements by Tory prime ministers.

David Cameron and Theresa May had between them elevated 136 Conservatives to the upper chamber over the proceeding nine years. By November 2021, Johnson had ennobled 83 people to become life peers, 42 of whom are Conservatives, while many others were fellow Brexit supporters.

And so what has followed has been a surprise. Official figures show that in Johnson’s first parliamentary session from December 2019 to March 2021, the Lords defeated the government on 114 occasions. This is the highest number of defeats in a single parliamentary session since Harold Wilson’s government in 1975-76 was defeated 126 times.

On Monday, the policies at the heart of the Johnson government’s nationality and borders bill were defeated in the Lords on five occasions.

The vote removed a key plank of the bill, known as clause 11, which would have stripped refugees arriving here via irregular routes of full rights such as a right to a family reunion and access to a public safety net. Peers voted by 204 to 126, defeating the clause by a majority of 78."

And

"There is also concern on the red benches that there is a tendency for ministers to make laws that are constructed to avoid line-by-line scrutiny.

Two Lords reports issued in November, one entitled Government by Diktat and the other Democracy Denied, warned that bills often provided only a broad outline of the law, with the details to be filled in later through secondary legislation, which cannot be amended and can become law without parliamentary debate.

Dr Hannah White, the deputy director of the Institute for Government, said the growing number of government defeats appeared to reflect concerns about the government’s laws. “This could indicate concerns in the House of Lords about the quality of the legislation and the powers that ministers are giving themselves in primary legislation,” she said.

After so-called “ping pong” between the two houses – when legislation is pushed back and forth between the upper and lower chamber – the government of the day often pushes laws through eventually, despite Lords defeats."

++

It is worthwhile reading the article in full, as it follows on from my earlier post a couple of days ago.

As is the usual way in this country, we muddle along for so many years without making any changes. The two major parties are alike in that they are happy to leave things as they are. Sometimes the actions of the Lords suits them but frustrates their opponents. Other times it works the other way.

What a carry on.