Large numbers of new peers are due to be appointed for the House of Lords in order to reflect the balance of the House of Commons after the election. For some this means an enormous House of Lords, just as the demand for political reform is fed up of politicians, for others, fairness, particularly for the Lib Dems who will need to appoint many more peers. See here for the Daily Politics explanation of how the process works. What do you think? Will this make reform of the House of Lords more or less likely?
According to one of the commenters on the Times article, Labour took 2 parliaments to give themselves a majority in the Lords. It does seem a bit soon to be overhauling the political balance in the Lords, especially considering a) the Lords is supposed to act as a check/counterbalance to the power of the Government and Commons and b) the Lords only really have the power to amend due to the Parliament act which the government can use to force legislation through!
ReplyDeleteAs for Lib Dem estimates that the number of Lib Dem peers would need to rise from 72 to 167 in order to rebalance the Lords, last time I checked, didn't they poll third in the election and lose 5 seats?
ohh deary me... i hope at least it will mean we won't get an elected Lords, but that'll properly happen anyway!
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