House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its members, who sit on red benches, are appointed by commission or originally inherited their position. Not all lords are entitled to sit in the House of Lords - since the House of Lords Act 1999, only 92 hereditary peers are allowed to sit in the House, the rest being appointed life peers. The total number of peers sitting in the House is about 745. Of those sitting, there are two types - Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. The latter are there by virtue of their ecclesiastical office in the Church of England and the Church of Ireland. There are also the twelve Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (commonly referred to as Law Lords), who are members of the House, but do not exercise any legislative powers - instead judging cases which have reached the House in its status as the final national court of appeal. Members are not obligated to attend the House, and do not represent a parliamentary constituency.

Under the 1911 Parliament Act, the House of Commons, despite being the lower house, has supremacy and places a limit on the amount of delay that the Lords can have on bills enacting manifesto pledges. Ultimately, the House of Lords can only hold up, not block, almost all legislation, although legislation which is unpopular in the upper house is often modified in order to satisfy complaints from the Lords. If an MP is appointed to the House of Lords, they are automatically disqualified from the Commons.