Yesterday I took part in short question session initiated by Lord McAvoy, who wanted to know what changes he could make to the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill, which would be significant enough to delay the AV referendum. As I pointed out, there is only one part of the Bill which focuses on this…
Alice would have felt entirely at home if she had strayed into the Lords chamber on Tuesday afternoon, the first day back after the Summer Recess. Everything seemed the wrong way round or upside down. First, several Peers nearly strayed into the wrong seats, because – by mutual agreement between the party leaders – the…
Despite the prevailing mood of Labour Peers that they are now in opposition, and that means they don’t have to take any responsibility for what went before, I detect some signs of consensus on important improvements to the way in which the House of Lords operates. Last week’s debate on working practices produced a remarkable…
During our debate yesterday on reform of the Lords, there was a most interesting contribution from the Earl of Sandwich. You can read his and all the rest of our speeches here: This reminded me of a fascinating historical “what if” I came upon in my current bedtime reading. I had previously thought that the…
I am constantly amused and amazed by the antipathy of some Peers and MPs to any form of improved voting systems for elections to Parliament, when they cheerfully adopt such fairer mechanisms for so many other purposes. For example, the election for the Deputy Speakers of the Commons, just completed, employed the admirable system of…
