What are they buggering about at? If there is nothing that indicates the cack handed nature of this Government it is the reform of the House of Lords. They start reforming it without knowing where they are going and then end up with a pig’s ear. And now this…..
- Life peerages would be permanently abolished
- The upper house would be split evenly between elected and appointed lords.
- The upper house would be reduced from 741 to 450
- Peers to be paid salaries for their new full-time responsibilities.
- Peers would not be allowed to serve for more than three parliamentary terms.
- Quotas for women and ethic minorities
What a mess. Why does half of the house need to be appointed? They apparently also think they can eradicate party politics from the Upper House – yeah right!
My view – not party policy obviously – is that they should get closer to the US system. The Commons and Lords works on fixed terms of 4 years and the Lords is elected two years into a new commons. This gives you the US version of mid-term elections. Mid terms are a very good compass point on the electoral cycle. The Lords could be a reviewing chamber that sends bills back for reconsideration if a threshold of members vote for it to go back.
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November 30, 2006 at 10:23 pm
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