The Sunday Times yesterday carried a leak as to one of the recommendations that will be appearing in the Government White Paper on Lords reform: provision for a recall election for elected members of the upper house. The proposal rather reflects the muddled thinking that has underpinned work on the White Paper. The idea is to…
I thought it may be worthwhile repeating a comment just contributed to my earlier post on engaging with the public: SARAH: ‘Not many people know that they may write to any lord about an issue that concerns them. I did this recently and my reward was a full debate arising from my letter. I was…
Earlier today, the House was debating the increase in world food prices. There were some interesting speeches, including from Lord Alton of Liverpool on the cross-benches. He touched upon the extent to which problems such as world poverty may be neglected when people in developed countries come under economic pressure. It is the enduring dilemma:…
Tony Benn was briefly a reluctant member of the second chamber (the 2nd Viscount Stansgate) and has been a longstanding critic of the unelected second chamber. He is, as has been widely reported, supporting David Davis in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election because of his vehement opposition to the proposal for 42-days pre-charge detention. I…
When I spoke at Chingford Foundation School last week, I asked the pupils how many members they thought there were in the Lords and which party had a majority. Most underestimated the number and tended to the view that the Conservatives had a majority. This is a not uncommon response. Audiences tend to be surprised…
