Lords Reform Day
The Elect the Lords Campaign have again declared 10 August as "Lords Reform Day." This marks the anniversary of the Parliament Act 1911 receiving Royal assent, the preamble of which states:
"it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation."
95 years later we still have the travesty of an un-elected second chamber.
To back the campaign for an elected House of Lords go to their website: http://www.electthelords.org.uk/
posted by Luke Akehurst at 1:30 pm
8 Comments:
Not sure about this one Luke.
I could support an elected element to the second chamber. For example i think MEPs should sit there as one of the roles it certainly does perform, which the Commons does not spent enough time on is scrutiny of the translation of EU legislation into UK law.
What I support is a hybrid House with some indirectly elected (ex officio) members (e.g. the MEPs, some LGA Scottish and Welsh Ministers, some appointed (far less than at present, restricted to nobel laurets and the like with possibly a smattering of ex senior ministers). The elected element should be capped at 50% and should consist of senators serving 15 year terms with a ban on standing for re-election to any public office. Such elections to take place annually on a UK wide basis in a staggerred fashion so that the composition changes over longer periods than the Commons.
2:09 pm, August 07, 2006
I'm sorry- wasn't this a labour plank to its manifesto in '97?
9:54 pm, August 07, 2006
That's what I thought Kris.
9:25 am, August 08, 2006
What an excellent opportunity for Peter Hain to show why he deserves your vote for Deputy Leader then.
4:58 pm, August 08, 2006
I would definitely like a second elected chamber, but I feel that it is important that the constituency link and primacy of the commons aren't eroded. what would you suggest?
10:29 pm, August 09, 2006
Not being an MP I'm not too fussed about the primacy of the Commons. I'd want the Commons elected by Additional Member System and the second chamber by STV.
9:54 am, August 10, 2006
Scrap the second chamber and introduce a Danish-style referendum trigger at the same time as bringing in PR.
Never going to happen, sadly.
5:00 pm, August 10, 2006
Despite my agreement with you Luke on many issues, I’m all for a unicameral chamber and for doing away with the Lords in its entirety. I believe that this country can perfectly manage well with only one chamber and any elected or part-elected chamber will inevitably undermine the supremacy of the House of Commons.
11:56 pm, August 14, 2006
Post a Comment
<< Home