Lords, House of

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Upper chamber of the UK Parliament. Following the House of Lords Act 1999, the number of hereditary peers (those with an inherited title) sitting in the upper chamber was reduced from 750 to a maximum of 92. In October 2001 there were 711 members of the House of Lords: 91 hereditary peers, 620 life peers (with title granted for the remainder of their lifetime), 2 archbishops, and 24 bishops. Together the hereditary and life peers form the Lords Temporal, of whom 26 are ‘law lords’; the archbishops and bishops are the Lords Spiritual. In October 2001 the hereditary peers included 50 Conservative, 4 Labour, and 31 independent ‘cross-bench’ members. Of the life peers, 172 were Conservative, 193 Labour, and 145 ‘cross-benchers’. There were 117 women peers.

Members of the House of Lords are not elected in a general election, although the hereditary peers sitting in the Lords are elected by their fellow hereditary peers. Life peers include both the law lords and those created under the Life Peerages Act 1958. The hereditary peerage, from whom members of the upper house are taken, includes hereditary peers of England created to 1707, hereditary peers of Great Britain created 1707–1800, and hereditary peers of the UK from 1801 onwards; hereditary Scottish peers (under the Peerage Act 1963); and peeresses in their own right (under the same act). The Spiritual Peers are the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and 24 of the bishops (London, Durham, and Winchester by right, and the rest by seniority). Since the Parliament Act of 1911 the powers of the Lords have been restricted in that they may delay a bill passed by the Commons but not reject it. The Lords are presided over by the Lord Chancellor.

Red, white, and blue recall the French tricolour. Red, yellow, and green are the pan-African colours. Red represents the common blood of mankind which links African and European nations. Effective date: 1 December 1958. >>