The House of Lords, a last bastion for the poor.

 Listening to the pomposity of the Tory politicians working them self up with self-righteous rage and umbrage at the thought of the House of Lords refusing to rubber stamp the horrendous, for some, changes to the 'tax credit' arrangements, needs to be put in context.

MP after Tory MP is seen on College Green, that patch of lawn outside the Houses of Parliament  expressing their deep unhappiness about an unelected body having the power to interfere with the decisions of an elected representative

But there's the nub of the problem. 

The concept of Democracy is flawed in this country since the 'first past the post' system is skewed in so far as the numbers who vote for a party are not at all in relation to the seats won in Parliament. In fact the Tory majority was won on 36 % of the vote with only a third of the people qualified to vote voting for them but they have total power to govern for the next 5 years. Thousands voted for the the Greens thousands voted for UKIP but each only won one seat !!! 

What sort of fair representation is that ?

The issues of whether it is fair to expect that section of society least able to survive a reduction in annual earnings is being debated in the Lords and since, with a small working majority of 12, the governing party can rail road bills through no matter how draconian their effect, the House of Lords is the last refuge of the poor.

How ironic. The symbol of patronage has become the symbol of hope to the disadvantaged.

 Then there is the appeal to tradition, the tradition that an unelected House the House of Lords can not oppose the so called democratically House the House of Commons on a finance bill.

Much of English Constitutional  law is based, not on a written constitution but a series of unwritten systems of agreement in which it is implicit that a specific format is followed. If the Lords throw out this draconian bill, as it should given the effect it will have on people least able to defend themselves they, the Lords are simply doing what a second chamber is there for to make the primary law makers reflect on their actions.