Prime Minister written statement – made at on 9 May 2006.
Tony Blair
Prime Minister
I am pleased to announce the reappointment of the House of Lords Appointments Commission until the end of the year, pending further discussions on House of Lords reform.
The Chairman is Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE, a Cross-Bench Peer in the House of Lords and the Chairman of HBOS plc.
The independent Members are: Mrs. Angela Sarkis CBE, Governor of the BBC and an independent management consultant; and Mrs. Felicity Huston, Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland and a tax consultant.
In addition, there are also three party political Members who are each nominated by one of the three main political parties: the Labour Party Member is the right hon. the Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde; the Conservative Party Member is the right hon. the Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE; the Liberal Democrat Member is the Lord Dholakia OBE DL.
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.
