Politics
Politics Home Article | Holding the government to account in the Lords
3 min read
Unlike the Commons, the Lords retains the time and freedom to examine legislation line by line. Lord True, Shadow Leader of the House of Lords, argues that these powers are essential to good law-making and should not be curtailed
This article was commissioned by the Total Politics Impact team for the Legislative Lookahead 2026.
The Lords fulfill a crucial role in scrutinising legislation. Unlike the Commons, which has had guillotines to end debates, and programme orders to set deadlines, the Lords still has time and freedom to discuss every detail of planned laws and hold all governments to account. As Leader of the House from 2022-2024 I firmly rejected every proposal to limit the Lords’ freedoms, despite record numbers of defeats. Each of those freedoms is precious to our process of law making. They must never be curtailed.
Now as Leader of the Opposition in the House, I lead a brilliant front bench team who spearhead scrutiny. But unlike in the Commons, every peer can play an equal part.
The front line is legislation. Take the back-to-the-1960s Employment Rights Act. Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Hunt of Wirral, our shadow ministers, led a cross-party crusade to allow businesses to continue to offer probationary jobs to new staff.
The government eventually saw sense, dropping bizarre plans to allow unfair dismissal claims from the very first hours in a job. Without the Lords, this would not have happened. The effect on job offers for young people in particular would have been devastating.
“Without the Lords, there would be no real checks on would-be legislation”
Simon Wolfson, a Conservative peer who is Chief Executive of the popular clothing giant Next, thanked the “Lords for this valiant and skilful defence of British business. The difference between day one and six-month rights is monumental. Without this change, any external hire would present an enormous risk. The relief when you won the concession was palpable across all businesses – from smallest to largest.”
This battle ended in commonsense compromise, as often wisely happens when the Lords and Commons disagree. Some government spin merchants whine about challenge in the Lords. But Labour has won over half of whipped Lords divisions this session. By contrast, in our last session in government, Conservatives won fewer than a third of votes, while the Labour opposition set a hat-trick of records – for the most government defeats on a single bill, in a single day, and over a single session!
I make no complaint. The Lords was doing its job then, as it is now. One modern problem is the absurd size of many bills. The last government I served in was just as guilty. Huge, poorly drafted bills that lack necessary details while taking ever more powers to the centre, will always need probing. They inevitably take more time, cause late sittings and risk repetitive debate, which should be avoided. I trust bills next session will be of more manageable size.
Without the Lords, there would be no real checks on would-be legislation. Opinions and policies fairly differ. But bad laws suit no-one. We all need Parliament to work well. In the Lords, good relations and fair dealing are needed between government and opposition, the two “sheepdogs” that manage all business. In 2025, the threat of unprecedented mass expulsions of active parliamentarians soured that. My hope is that in 2026 the climate will improve. There are encouraging signs of a statesmanlike readiness to reach constructive compromise. We are ready to play our part.
