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Parliament Acts: Use since 1949
Lord Shore of Stepney asked Her Majesty's Government:
- On what occasions since the passage of the Parliament Act 1949 has the House of Commons overridden the House of Lords by using the special provisions of the Parliament Act.[HL79]
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Jay of Paddington): Since 1949, the Parliament Acts have been used to enact the War Crimes Act 1991, the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, and the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000.
Government Defeats in the House of Lords
Lord Lipsey asked the Leader of the House:
- (a) how many government defeats were suffered in divisions in the House of Lords in each Session since 1970, a government defeat being defined as a division in which the tellers on the losing side were government whips;
(b) how many defeats there were on average during Sessions in which a Labour government was in power; and
(c) how many defeats there were on average during Sessions in which a Conservative government was in power.[HL75]
Baroness Jay of Paddington: As much as possible of the information requested is set out in the table below. The table has been prepared by the House of Lords Information Office.
| Divisions | ||||||||
| Government victories | Government defeats | Other divisions | ||||||
| Session | Number | As a percentage of the total | Number | As a percentage of the total | Number | As a percentage of the total | Total number of divisions | |
| Conservative Government | ||||||||
| *1970-71 | ? | 4? | 2%? | ? | 196 | |||
| 1971-72 | ? | 5 | 3% | ? | 171 | |||
| 1972-73 | ? | 13 | 18% | ? | 73 | |||
| **1973-74 | ? | 4 | 21% | ? | 19 | |||
| Labour Government | ||||||||
| **1974 | ? | ? | ? | 17 | ||||
| Labour Government | ||||||||
| 1974-75 | ? | ? | ? | 119 | ||||
| 1975-76 | 11 | 8% | 126 | 86% | 9 | 6% | 146 | |
| 1976-77 | 11 | 24% | 25 | 56% | 9 | 20% | 45 | |
| 1977-78 | 16 | 17% | 78 | 81% | 2 | 2% | 96 | |
| 1978-79 | 5 | 24% | 11 | 52% | 5 | 24% | 21 | |
| Conservative Government | ||||||||
| *1979-80 | 280 | 92% | 15 | 5% | 8 | 3% | 303 | |
| 1980-81 | 153 | 83% | 18 | 10% | 13 | 7% | 184 | |
| 1981-82 | 126 | 85½% | 7 | 4½% | 14 | 9½% | 147 | |
| **1982-83 | 79 | 89% | 5 | 5½% | 5 | 5½% | 89 | |
| Conservative Government | ||||||||
| *1983-84 | 202 | 86% | 20 | 9% | 12 | 5% | 234 | |
| 1984-85 | 117 | 82% | 17 | 12% | 8 | 6% | 142 | |
| 1985-86 | 215 | 88% | 22 | 9% | 8 | 3% | 245 | |
| **1986-87 | 75 | 95% | 3 | 4% | 1 | 1% | 79 | |
| Conservative Government | ||||||||
| *1987-88 | 254 | 91% | 17 | 6% | 8 | 3% | 279 | |
| 1988-89 | 173 | 92% | 12 | 6% | 4 | 2% | 189 | |
| 1989-90 | 160 | 86% | 20 | 11% | 6 | 3% | 186 | |
| 1990-91 | 87 | 84% | 17 | 16% | 0 | 0% | 104 | |
| **1991-92 | 73 | 88% | 6 | 7% | 4 | 5% | 83 | |
| Conservative Government | ||||||||
| *1992-93 | 140 | 85% | 19 | 11½% | 6 | 3½% | 165 | |
| 1993-94 | 99 | 73% | 16 | 12% | 21 | 15% | 136 | |
| 1994-95 | 94 | 88½% | 7 | 6½% | 5 | 5% | 106 | |
| 1995-96 | 97 | 89% | 10 | 9% | 2 | 2% | 109 | |
| **1996-97 | 55 | 82% | 10 | 15% | 2 | 3% | 67 | |
| Labour Government | ||||||||
| *1997-98 | 134 | 75% | 39 | 22% | 6 | 3% | 179 | |
| 1998-99 | 61 | 61.6% | 31 | 31.3% | 7 | 7.1% | 99 | |
| 1999-00 | 147 | 76.6% | 36 | 18.7% | 9 | 4.7% | 192 | |
Notes:
Divisions where insufficient tellers were appointed are not included but divisions which resulted in an equality of votes are included.
Data are incomplete prior to Session 1975-76 and data followed by a question mark (?) are either unavailable at present or have not been verified. From Session 1975-76 onwards divisions where there was not a quorum have been omitted from this table (e.g. Session 1985-86 there were a total of 250 divisions and five of these had no quorum).
*** A government victory is defined as one where the tellers on the winning side are government whips. "Other" divisions include those without a quorum and unwhipped divisions.
** This Session was shorter than usual: it was terminated by a general election.
* This Session was longer than usual: it followed a general election and was about 18 months long (as opposed to the normal Session of one year running from November to November ).
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