To what extent is there a democratic deficit in the UK?
There is an argument that the government has the power and right to change laws and represent people without necessarily having to be elected. This can also be known as ‘Democratic deficit’. An example of democratic deficit is the House of Lords. The members in the House of Lords aren’t elected but they get to make laws and represent the people. The members in House of Lords are usually given their seats hereditarily so many people found it unfair that they’re not elected into the Parliament but they can make decisions and laws on our behalf.
On the other hand, people may argue with the fact that there is the House of Commons as well as the House of Lords and the House of Commons has more power than the House of Lords has. H of C can make laws and policies without consulting H of L, whereas H of L has to consolidate H of C with the policy or law they want to pass. There has also been some sort of reform in the H of L to make it fairer, there are only 92 hereditary lords left in the H of L so people may say this is an example of the UK not being a democratic deficit.
In this essay I will be assessing for and against views of the UK being a democratic deficit.
Some people agree with this view that there is a democratic deficit in the UK because as I mentioned earlier the members in House of Lords aren’t elected, the head of state (Queen) can decide whether or not laws can be passed and practiced in the UK but she’s not elected and can reign as long as she stays alive for which some people find unfair because the laws she passes affects them. Another example of Democratic deficit is the European Union who makes regulations