A study of the conventions of individual and collective responsibility as debated in the British House of Lords.
This paper examines the concept of conventions, in particular those relating to responsibility within the British government and the cabinet. It comments on the effectiveness of the concept as a means of restraining executive power. The paper examines the role of the House of Lords in terms of the recent changes and proposed reforms.
“In Britain we have an unwritten constitution, which involves a number of non-legal conventional rules. These conventional rules mostly deal with the major responsibilities of government and it could be said that in general they are rules of non-legal accountability. Therefore, accountability of government is widely based on conventions and these conventions will discuss in detail, particularly those relating to the accountability of both government ministers and members of parliament.”