House of Lords Reform - 70 Tory Rebels Sign Letter Opposing

[mattnunn]

elster said:

I don't see it as a step up at all, I see it as a pointless waste of time.

If we do go for an elected house we need to completely rethink how the system works. An elected scrutiny committee has to be accountable to the electorate and thus a single term defeats the object of the election. If they are accountable will they be doing more than simply advice and revision of bills, could they be more involved in Government. Could the cabinet be made more from both houses? Could the PM be from the other place?

Normally those who scrutinise hold a higher power to those who bring to the table the suggestions, so our system will work the opposite way to all other democracies around the world.

The role that the other place should have needs to be decided how the are to be elected and if they want to be elected.

You also have the issue of change of government and the Lords will remain and if they are accountable to their electorate will make things awkward to score political points.

I don't think we should have an elected house of lords, democracy is a bad idea when done well, our democracy has done nothing than provide us with a shower of ste for the last 30 years and with the advent of professional politicians who are essentially PR and Marketing execs of their parties it would serve no one to turn the lords into a second chamber the same as the commons.

I think the best way would be to have some kind of jury system, but you'd have to proove qualified and able, possibly do it remotely using technology as much as possible so people from across the country could participate not just those with tie to the capital.

I certainly think that academics and succesfull business folk should be encouraged to actively take part in a second chamber and remove as much party politics from it as possible.

But then that wouldn't suit the system we have and guess who's going to make the decision in the end.

Democracy really is a load of pants.

[0a]

It would be bizarre in my opinion to elect the house of Lords. We elect the Commons - if you are unhappy with democratic accountability you need to focus reform there.

A democratic house of Lords would fill the same function as the Commons and would therefore be redundant.

We do however need to kick out the hereditary peers, reform the appointments system, and reduce the size of the house.

All doable in a house of Lords reform bill. But Clegg completely messed it up...

The Bill will now be killed by Cameron given that it will disrupt all legislation into the new year, or it will be voted through with a referendum amendment meaning it won't be enacted.

Waste of time- well done Clegg.

[martin84]

If this goes through then it's essentially a copy of the US Senate isn't it?

[elster]

martin84 said:

If this goes through then it's essentially a copy of the US Senate isn't it?

No, it is nothing like the senate.