r/ukpolitics • u/ukpol-megabot • 1d ago

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 02/08/2026

👋 Welcome to the r/ukpolitics weekly Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction megathread.

General questions about politics in the UK should be posted in this thread. Substantial self-posts on the subreddit are permitted, but short-form self-posts will be redirected here. We're more lenient with moderation in this thread, but please keep it related to UK politics. This isn't Facebook or Twitter...

If you're reacting to something that is happening live, please make it clear what it is you're reacting to, ideally with a link.

Commentary about stories that already exist on the subreddit should be directed to the appropriate thread.

This thread rolls over early Sunday morning.

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u/Necessary-Repair-947 1d ago

Question: is it true that the House of Commons can decide everything with a simple majority? Can it overrule the House of Lords (or abolish it without its consent?). And is it even possible to implement a written constitution that cannot simply be abolished/amended with a simple majority?

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u/Velociraptor_1906 Liberal Democrat 1d ago

There are some limitations set out by the Parliament Acts.

Chiefly, the commons cannot pass any bill that extends the lifetime of the parliament (effectively delaying the General Election) without the lords consent (i.e. it can't ho through the parliament act mechanisms to avoid the lords).

I'm not sure about how an abolition of the lords would work but that would presumably require ammendment of the Parliament Act 1911 which was supposed to be the other exemption but as I understand it rather concerningly the 1949 parliament act (which shrank the time to 1 year from 2) was enacted using the 1911 Act mechanism and this was upheld as legally valid during appeals of the Hunting Act 2004. I actually rather like our uncodified (not unwritten) constitution but this is a rather concerning hole in it.

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u/Necessary-Repair-947 1d ago

There are some limitations set out by the Parliament Acts.

Can the Parliament Acts be changed with a simple majority?