Tag Archives: lords reform

Is election the democratic option?

Lord Norton 23/08/2011 – 5:00 pm

In my Stevenson Lecture at the University of Glasgow in January, I addressed the claim that election of a second chamber necessarily constitutes the ‘democratic’ option.  This is often advanced by proponents of an elected second chamber as if it were self-evidently correct.   I argued that it is not necessarily the democratic option, a point to which I returned in the debate in the Hou […]

Written at 5:00 pm on 23/08/2011, by Lord Norton

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Lords Reform Again

Baroness Murphy 27/06/2011 – 11:51 am

An article in the Guardian today by Lords Adonis and Tyler about the true nature of the House of Lords today is worth reading. I'm afraid their descriptions of current peers  are well observed. That's why we shouldn't fear an elected second chamber. See  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/26/lords-reform-overdue

Written at 11:51 am on 27/06/2011, by Baroness Murphy

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Late night Lady

Baroness Deech 26/01/2011 – 9:46 pm

I am keeping an eye on the late night debates, even though we crossbenchers feel a bit like referees watching from the sidelines as the 2, or is it 3 parties slug it out over the PVS&C Bill.  I welcome Lord Low's calm and holistic view.  But I can't help feeling that the behaviour of the opposition is going to be destructive in the long term.  The Lords, in brief, have really upset the gove […]

Written at 9:46 pm on 26/01/2011, by Baroness Deech


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Is today yesterday?

Lord Knight 18/01/2011 – 1:58 am

It is 1.50am.  I am in my Lords office waiting to speak to my amendment to the Parliamentary Voting and Constituencies Bill which tries to link the decision on the number of MPs with the number of Lords.  This is my own attempt to get some big picture coherence on constitutional reform. The signs are that it will be a few hours yet and I suspect the quality of debate may suffer. It is a […]

Written at 1:58 am on 18/01/2011, by Lord Knight


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Schools’ debate on (and in) the Lords

Lord Norton 11/12/2010 – 3:30 pm

The debate in the chamber yesterday, in which teams from four schools each advocated one of the options for the future of the Lords (all appointed, hybrid, abolition, all elected) produced the following results: Fully appointed: 81 Hybrid: 48 Abolition: 26 Fully elected: 8 Congratulations to the team from the Robert Clack School in Dagenham who argued the case for a fully appointed Ho […]

Written at 3:30 pm on 11/12/2010, by Lord Norton


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