House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as "the Commons"), and the Lords together comprise the Parliament. In Parliament the members of the 731 seat House of Lords currently outnumber the members of the 646 seat House of Commons.

The full, formal style of the House of Lords is The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The formal style of individual members of the House of Lords is The Right Honourable the Lord X (of Y). Lords who are Privy Counsellors place "PC" after their title : all Privy Counsellors are in any case entitled to the epithet The Right Honourable.

On March 7, 2007, the House of Commons voted, in principle, in favour of replacing the Lords with an elected chamber (either 100% elected or 80% elected, 20% appointed). This was another step towards legislation to that end. See Reform of the House of Lords. However, the House of Lords, being the upper legislative chamber, rejected this proposal and voted for an entirely appointed House of Lords.