House of Lords can be seen as more successful than the House of Commons. Agreement The House of Lords is more successful than the House of Commons in scrutinising legislation. The more independent and specialist House of Lords, especially since the Blair reforms, with more time for scrutiny, has become increasingly successful in their main role as a revising chamber (Environment Act 2021, Policing, Crime and Sentencing Act) whilst the weakness of public bill committees and the strength of the whip system mean that nearly all amendments made in the Commons come from Ministers not backbenchers (AO2), making it clear that Lords is more successful than the House of Commons in its key role as a revising chamber (A03). The House of Lords is more successful in its legislative role of debating and voting against legislation. The Lords greater specialism and independence than the Commons, in addition to its ability to delay legislation by one year, means that the Lords is more able to challenge government (2019–21 session – 114 government defeats) and force reconsideration and compromise (AO2) so the Lords acts more successfully to challenge government legislation to force reconsideration and compromise on legislation (AO3). The House of Lords is more successful at providing scrutiny of the government. The Lords is more successful in this role due to its less partisan approach, with crossbenchers playing a key role, due to increased time available as there is no constituency work and has wide ranging select committees populated with specialists (AO2), meaning that the Lords is more successful than the Commons at fulfilling its role of scrutinising the government and holding it to account (AO3). The House of Lords, whilst unelected, plays a key role with its expertise and ability to represent issues that are important but not electorally popular. Many Peers represent their area of expertise – Lord Best and Housing to great effect in the chamber whilst the number of human rights lawyers and freedom from electoral constraints allows Peers to defend the rights and interests of groups such as prisoners and asylum seekers that are not necessarily electorally popular (AO2), so the Lords is more successful than the Commons in representing a whole range of functional interests and the rights and interests of marginalised groups (AO3).

House of Lords can be seen as more successful than the House of Commons. Disagreement Ultimately, the Commons has the power to reject amendments from the Lords and it is more likely that pressure from backbench MPs will trigger amendments to legislation. Ultimately whilst the Lords may add amendments, these can be rejected by the Commons (Dubs Amendment to Brexit Bill) and it is pressure from backbench MPs that normally encourages the government to propose and support amendments to its own legislation (AO2), so now the Commons is at least as successful, if not more successful, than the Lords at scrutinising and amending legislation (AO3). The Commons is more successful at debating and voting on legislation due to the different powers of the two Houses. The Lords, due to its unelected nature, is constrained by the Salisbury Convention, Financial Privilege and the Parliament Acts, so only the Commons can veto legislation. The threat of exercising this power can force the government to withdraw or amend legislation (May and Brexit legislation, Cameron and House of Lords reform) (AO2), suggesting the Commons is at least as successful, if not more successful, than the Lords at debating and voting on legislation (AO3). The Commons is more successful at the scrutiny function than the House of Lords due to their contrasting powers. PMQs takes place in the Commons and is widely televised and Departmental Select Committees that only operate in the Commons, provide the greatest level of scrutiny and accountability of government ministers, especially since the Wright reforms (AO2), so the Commons is more successful than the Lords in scrutinising the government and holding them to account (AO3). The representation function is far more successfully carried out by the Commons than the Lords. The Lords, whilst providing some limited representation, is not elected whilst the elected Commons is with MPs playing the key role of representing their constituents’ interests (AO2), suggesting that the Commons is more successful than the Lords at fulfilling the representation function (AO3).