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Originally Posted by Tomkat
i do
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A private member's bill is one introduced by someone who isn't part of the Government (i.e. either a backbencher in the ruling party, or a member of the Opposition). If it's not supported by the Government, it very rarely gets anywhere.
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Originally Posted by Tomkat
An eloquent speech is not necessarily a good speech. Also why are we supposed to care what the Lords have to say on the matter? Why do they represent us (as a nation) in deciding legislation?
I could write a super duper speech and stand up and give it, and my opinion really would be about as representative of the populace as someone in the House of Lords (in fact, I'd probably be more representative). Yet I don't represent anyone except by votes, and they do.
Why?
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I was using the word eloquent to describe a speech that argues well as opposed to saying "OMG THOSE POOR FOXES", which was common in the Commons. I was referring to speeches on both sides of the argument as well.
You don't seem to like the House of Lords very much. Newsflash: they've changed a lot since their pre-1997 composition. Very few Lords are intellectually weak, and you've got a lot of specialists in there who have succeeded in their fields and have been given life peerages. The remaining 92 hereditary peers are there on merit.
Of course, this change is one of the main reasons that the House of Lords feels able to challenge the Commons much more often now. It's not just there to rubber-stamp everything, it's taking on the challenge of scrutinising everything that the Commons does and trying to improve it.