Parliament Act 1911 - Passage

Passage

The Lords was now faced with the prospect of a Parliament Act, which had considerable support from the Irish Nationalists. A series of meetings between the Liberal government and Conservative opposition members was agreed. 21 such meetings were held between 16 June and 10 November. The discussions considered a wide range of proposals, with initial agreement on finance bills and a joint sitting of the House of Commons and Lords as a means by which to enforce Commons superiority in controversial areas; the number of Lords present would be limited such that a Liberal majority of 50 or more in the House of Commons could overrule the Lords. However, the issue of home rule for Ireland was the main contention, with Conservatives looking to exempt such a law from the Parliament Act procedure by means of a general exception for "constitutional" or "structural" bills. The Liberals supported an exception for bills relating to the monarchy and Protestant succession, but not home rule. Discussions were declared failed on 10 November.

The government threatened another dissolution if the Parliament Act were not passed, and followed through on their threat when opposition in the Lords did not diminish. The elections of December produced little change from January. The calling of a second dissolution of parliament now seems to have been contrary to the wishes of Edward VII. At the same time, George V was asked if he would be prepared to create sufficient peers, which he would only if the matter arose. This would have meant creating over 400 new Liberal peers. George did, however, demand that it would have to be rejected at least once by the Lords before his intervention. Two amendments made by the Lords were rejected and opposition showed little sign of slipping. This led Asquith to declare George's intention to overcome the majority in the House of Lords by creating sufficient new peers. It was passed in the Lords by 131 votes to 114 votes, a majority of 17. This reflected a large number of abstentions.