Ordered by Britain’s Supreme Court to get the state’s
Parliament’s approval for the state to secede from the Union, the Prime
Minister, Teresa May, faced the prospect of debate, amendments, and the votes
themselves in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In the latter
chamber, May’s Conservative Party did not at the time have a majority. Some in
her party “suggested that she should quickly appoint enough new lords to give
her the votes she needs. But few say they expect that to be necessary: with
little democratic legitimacy, the 805 lords are unlikely to dare to block” the
referendum outcome favoring secession.[1]
I submit that the democratic criterion is ill-fitting to the House of Lords.
1. Katrin Bennhold, “Ordered
to Seek Approval on ‘Brexit,’ Teresa May Does So. Tersely,” The New York Times, January 26, 2017.
