I have read with interest the very thoughtful recent contributions on tuition fees, and the role of the Lords in determining them. Personally, I very much agree with what Baroness Murphy has said of the new scheme. I believe it will be better and fairer, even if it was not the preferred option of the…
Following on from my last blog post about Member’s Leaving the House, readers might like to read our debate about this on Tuesday. Reading people’s comments on my last post and considering the Working Group’s report further, led me to think again about whether there really should be any financial package at all offered to…
The House of Lords jealously – and irrationally – guards the principle of ‘self-regulation’ which is supposed to govern the way the House works. It leads to all sorts of absurdities at Questions, and when Government Ministers are making statements, since it is in effect the Government which decides who should speak next. The Lord…
Anyone interested in the way the House of Lords currently works – and should work in future – must get hold of the interim report titled Consultation on Members Leaving the House. In brief the case for reducing the number of Peers is compelling: increasing costs, not enough room for all to get into the…
As a non-member of the Constitution Committee, I have only just had time to look at the transcript of the Deputy Prime Minister’s evidence, which Lord Norton refers to. This has just been published, if you want to read it for yourself. There was one issue in particular, which I thought should give heart…
