Why is the house of commons more important than the house of lords?

Answer 1

the house of lords is where all the politicians meet, the house of commons is where ordinary people debate. No, the above is not strictly true: I refer to the bi cameral Parliament of the UK. The Commons is the principal House, and is where the government sits, made up of the elected representative MPs. The House of Lords is the upper chamber and has a role of overseeing the work of the Commons, it was originally made up of heriditary peers, but now is largely made up of Life peers & the Clergy. It is unelected.

Answer 2

House of Commons:

Members are elected by local constituencies. Therefore House of commons represented by number of parties (with party in power representing majority). These members pass bills.

House of Lords:

Members inherit title sometimes (92). They need to then approve the bills passed and either reject them ormake them acts. These go onto the Queen for final approval.

Answer 3

The House of Commons is the lower chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has a maximum term of five years, but can be dissolved by the Queen before then. It is completely and directly elected. The Government is dependent upon a majority of the members of the Commons (MPs) for its survival. If this is withdrawn then the Government must resign. The House of Lords is the upper chamber of Parliament. It is not dissolvable by the Queen, and is completely unelected. Its members are a mixture of hereditary peers (92, or 13%), life peers (about 670, or 85%), law lords and Bishops and Archbishops of the Church of England. The Government is not dependent upon the support of the Lords for its survival, and the Lords has only the power to delay legislation originating in the Commons for a maximum of 13 months (one session plus one month). After that, if the same Bill is reintroduced and passed by the Commons again, then the Lords is overridden. It is the clearly subordinate House.

Answer 4

It actually depends on the period of time your considering. When the house of commons first appeared, it didn't have a lot of power (actually, almost none) and only participated as audience and made some minor decisions, but with time lords lost some decision-making power and commons started gaining more, therefore making the latter, the most powerful.

Answer 5

basically because it is directly elected by the British people, whereas members of the House of Lords are appointed or inherit their position. It is generally believed therefore that the Commons has more legitimacy.

There are many examples of how it became of more importance, such as the 1911 Parliament Act which stated that the House of Lords could no longer block bills which were passed through the Commons indefinitely, it could only prevent them for two years (this was then shortened to one year in 1949). Also, the House of Commons does not need to listen to amendments proposed by the Lords, it can choose to ignore them and pass a bill anyway after a year has passed.