Part of House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill – in the House of Commons at 4:52 pm on 4 September 2025.
The House divided: Ayes 338, Noes 74.
Question accordingly agreed to.
Lords amendment 3 disagreed to.
Lords amendment 8 disagreed to.
Lords amendments 4 to 7 and 9 agreed to.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (
That Nick Thomas-Symonds, Martin McCluskey, Josh MacAlister, Douglas McAllister, Tracy Gilbert, Alex Burghart and Sarah Olney be members of the Committee;
That Nick Thomas-Symonds be the Chair of the Committee;
That three be the quorum of the Committee.
That the Committee do withdraw immediately.—(Martin McCluskey.)
Question agreed to.
Committee to withdraw immediately; reasons to be reported and communicated to the Lords.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
