Reflections

The House of Lords: Guardians of future generations

Bruce Tonna,*, Michael Hoganb

aDepartment of Political Science, University of Tennessee, McClung Tower,

Room 1018, Knoxville, TN 37996, USAbUniversity of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Available online 10 August 2005

There is tremendous need for more futures-oriented governance by almost every

country on earth. The United Kingdom is no exception. It faces numerous serious

challenges that could threaten the viability of British society and could even threaten the

continued inhabitation of the British Isles. Global climate change may lead to the ravaging

of the coasts through a combination of more numerous and stronger storms and increased

sea levels.1 It has been argued that global climate change has already resulted in severe

increases in precipitation and flooding in parts of England [4]. Global warming has already

had a deadly impact on the health of people living on the Continent, especially France [1].

Higher temperatures and drought conditions could have severe impacts on agriculture in

the United Kingdom. In a worst case scenario, global warming could lead to the melt of

enough Arctic ice fast enough to alter the current of the North Atlantic Ocean, which could

actually lead to much colder temperatures in Northern Europe [7]. This situation could

also cripple agriculture throughout the British Isles.

Global climate change is only one long-term threat to the United Kingdom [8]. In the

not too distant future, most countries in the world will have to deal with sharp increases in

the cost of energy and probably deal with steady declines in its supply. The United

Kingdom’s North sea oil reserves may run dry by the end of this century [5]. Increasing

use of coal will only exacerbate global climate change. Foresight, wisdom and long-term

planning will be needed to deal with the energy issue. Confronting global economic

competition while attempting to also achieve a high degree of self-sufficiency in energy,

food, and other essentials will be especially challenging for the United Kingdom.

Futures 38 (2006) 115–119

www.elsevier.com/locate/futures

0016-3287/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.futures.2005.04.007

* Corresponding author. Tel.: C1 865 974 4552; fax: C1 865 974 7041.

E-mail address: btonn@utk.edu (B. Tonn).1 Visit http://www.foresight.gov.uk for more information about in the impacts of climate change on the coasts

of England.

B. Tonn, M. Hogan / Futures 38 (2006) 115–119116

Other issues that must be addressed over the longer-term include an aging population,

possible decrease in overall population, threats due to pathogens crossing over

from animal populations to infect humans, housing, genetic/biological modification,

protecting humans and animals from new pathogens, invasive species, and international

terrorism.

It is not argued here that the United Kingdom is completely ignoring all these issues.

For example, the United Kingdom has stated its intention of reducing carbon dioxide

emissions by 20% by the year 2010 [2]. What is being argued, however, is that it is difficult

for conventional representative government to adequately deal with futures-oriented

issues [3]. The House of Commons, like the United States Congress, is designed as a forum

to deal with today’s problems and find solutions to benefit those who are dealing with

today’s problems. The House of Commons allocates resources according the self-interests

of today’s representatives and their constituents. Pressures to respond to immediate needs

to maintain the support of one’s constituency in order to ensure re-election are very

powerful. It is much more difficult in these forums to advocate the interests and allocate

resources to the benefit of future generations. Ultimately, though, countries that do not

seriously address the longer-term future will only survive by chance. Humanity will not

survive into the distant future, either, unless we collectively take the future more seriously.

The House of Lords is quite different from the House of Commons. The House of Lords

came into being around 800 years ago. It was composed of powerful landowners and

leaders of the church. The House of Lords was convened by the Royal government at its

pleasure to offer counsel and resources to the Throne. Its role in British society has been

debated almost continuously since its inception. Its power has been substantially reduced

over the centuries as the House of Commons has become the pre-eminent legislative

institution. In fact, the Parliament Act of 1911 gave the House of Commons the right to

overrule House of Lords’ rejection of the former’s Bills. The Parliament Act of 1949

provides the current framework that allows a Bill not supported by the House of Lords to

become law if passed by the House of Commons on its Second Reading. Thus, the House

of Lords can delay but not stop legislation.

A recent Royal Commission undertook another review of the role of the House of Lords

in British society. [6] This Commission found that the House of Lords still has a critical

role to play. In its Executive Summary, the Commission finds that the House of Lords

should have these four main roles:

†

It should bring a range of different perspectives to bear on the development of public

policy.

†

It should be broadly representative of British society. People should be able to feel that

there is a voice in Parliament for the different aspects of their personalities, whether

regional, vocational, ethnic, professional, cultural or religious, expressed by a person or

persons with whom they can identify.

†

It should play a vital role as one of the main ‘checks and balances’ within the unwritten

British constitution. Its role should be complementary to that of the House of Commons

in identifying points of concern and requiring the Government to reconsider or justify

its policy intentions. If necessary, it should cause the House of Commons to think again.

The second chamber should engender second thoughts.

B. Tonn, M. Hogan / Futures 38 (2006) 115–119 117

†

It should provide a voice for the nations and regions of the United Kingdom at the

centre of public affairs.

This view of the value of the House of Lords to British society fits exceeding well with

the thesis of this paper, that the House of Lords should accept responsibility for vigorously

overseeing that the actions of the House of Commons and the Government to protect the

future well-being of the heirs of the United Kingdom. It is expected that the House of

Lords should bring different perspectives to bear on public policy. The House of Lords

ought to prompt the House of Commons and Government to rethink their actions as

necessary. Indeed, further along in the Executive Summary, the Commission states that the

House of Lords should contain members with ‘the ability to take a long-term view’.

There are many reasons to urge the House of Lords to accept responsibility for

protecting the future well-being of the heirs of the United Kingdom. These include:

†

2

Gen

(19

It is the original protector of the heirs of the Commonwealth.

†

It is also the Court of last resort with respect to constitutional matters in British society.

It can be argued that the House of Lords is the ultimate forum for concerns about to

future generations to be heard.

†

In recent decades, it has become much less partisan that the House of Commons.

†

Its members, known as Peers, have much wider range of expertise than found in the

House of Commons.

†

In recent decades, the Peers have become a very diverse group.

†

Accepting the responsibility for protecting the future well-being of the heirs of the

United Kingdom fits well with the recent broadening of its agenda to include more

social issues.

†

It could also be argued that hereditary Peers may have some predisposition to consider

the long-term and in fact recent evidence suggests that the Peers have become more

socially active.

†

The House of Lords has relatively more time than does the House of Commons to

devote to public hearings and committee meetings to thoroughly debate the subject of

the long-term future of the United Kingdom.

†

It has been much more active and professional in recent years. Annual hours of

meetings and sessions are much increased as well as has been attendance.

The House of Lords can accept the responsibility for vigorously overseeing that the

actions of the House of Commons and the Government protect the future well-being of the

heirs of the United Kingdom without any legislative action.2 This is because the United

Kingdom does not have a written constitution and because the House of Lords has the right

to set its own agenda and arrange its own processes. It is suggested that the House of Lords

establish a Special Committee on the Future of the United Kingdom to hold hearings and

advise the entire House of Lords. The Special Committee on the Future should prepare

This unlike the United States, where an amendment to the Constitution would be needed to create the Court of

erations: B. Tonn, The court of generations: a proposed amendment to the US constitution, Futures, 23 (5)

91) 482–498.

B. Tonn, M. Hogan / Futures 38 (2006) 115–119118

periodic comprehensive reviews, no less than every 5 years, of all government actions to

determine whether in total they are protecting the future well-being of the heirs of the

United Kingdom. Also, the Committee should review specific House of Commons

legislative proposals for their consistency with the goal of protecting the future well-being

of the heirs of the United Kingdom. The Special Committee on the Future would then

report back to the entire House of Lords with its findings.

At this point, the entire House of Lords may decide to exercise its oversight

responsibilities if the Peers judge that the House of Commons and the Government are not

protecting the future well-being of the heirs of the United Kingdom. The House of Lords,

to engender second thoughts, could fail to approve legislation to fund government

programs if the entirety of government actions fails to be sufficiently futures-oriented. The

House of Lords could also fail to approve more specific House of Commons Legislative

proposals. As mentioned above, the House of Commons has the power to override any

House of Lords veto after a Second Reading. But by then, the issues would have been

made very public. Discourse about the future of the United Kingdom would have been

generated throughout the country. It is assumed that this discourse would lead to improved

public policy vis-a-vis the future, maybe not immediately but eventually. To maintain an

aire non-partisanship and morality, it is not recommended that the House of Lords

generate new legislation of its own to rectify the perceived myopia of the House of

Commons and the Government.

A substantial amount of effort will be needed by the House of Lords to internalize this

responsibility. It is not wholly a new responsibility in some respects because the House of

Lords presumably acts in the public interest and all acts have their presumed benefits at

some point in the future. However, vigorously protecting the future well-being of the heirs

of the United Kingdom is a much broader, more comprehensive mandate than is protecting

the rights of the landed gentry or judging the merits of joining the European Union. This

will require the House of Lords to take seriously the concept of sustainable development,

which the Bruntland Commision of 1987 defined as ‘Development that would meet the

needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their

own needs’.3 This new responsibility will also require this body to take seriously every

human’s obligations to our future generations and to other species living on earth.

References

[1] Australian Academy of Science, Warmer and sicker? Global Warming and Human Health, http://www.

science.org.au/nova/081/081key.htm, May 2004.

[2] Friends of the Earth, Climate: Fossil Fuels, http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/issues/fossil_fuels/

index.html, 2004 (accessed December 13).

[3] T.C. Kim, J. Dator, Introduction: future generations—they are our conscience in: T.C. Kim, J. Dator (Eds.),

Co-creating a Public Philosophy for Future Generations, Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 1999, pp. 1–16.

[4] M. Lynas, High Tide: the Truth About Our Climate Crisis, Picador, New York, 2004.

3 The Special Committee and the House of Lords could also help the United Kingdom meets its obligations to

the European Union’s Convention on Human Rights with respect to sustainable development.

B. Tonn, M. Hogan / Futures 38 (2006) 115–119 119

[5] R. D. Blanchard, The Impact of Declining Major North Sea Oil Fields Upon Norwegian and United Kingdom

Oil Production, http://dieoff.org/page180.htm, 2004 (accessed December 13).

[6] Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords. A House for the Future, http://www.archive.

official-documents.co.uk/document/cm45/4534/4534.htm, January 2000.

[7] T. Hartmann, How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age. CommonDreams.org http://www.

commondreams.org/views04/0130_11.htm, 2004 (January 30).

[8] United Kingdom Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, Strategic Audit: Discussion Document. http://www.pm.gov.

uk/files/pdf/strategic_audit.pdf.