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What is the House of Lords?

Why is there a House of Lords? Who can become a member? And what exactly do they do on a daily basis?

Check Your Understanding

After watching the video, try to answer these quick questions:

Key information:

The House of Lords has three main functions:

  1. To question and challenge the work of the government
  2. To work with the House of Commons to shape laws
  3. To investigate important issues through committees and debates

The members of the House of Lords can be divided into three main categories:

  1. Life peers
  2. Hereditary peers
  3. Bishops

Contains parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.