Alex Massie Alex Massie

Reforming the Lords?

The downside to this latest outbreak of “Labour Sleaze” is that we’re going to hear an awful lot of talk about “reforming” the House of Lords. (Will anyone be brave enough to suggest bringing back the hereditary peers?) but the very last thing anyone should want is for there to yet another round of elections. More to the point, it’s the professionalisation of politics that is part of the problem here. The Lords, ideally, should be a largely amateur, part-time institution in which members can bring the benefit of independence, perspective and experience to suggest, gently, that government plans are, shall we say, ill-advised.

But if there must be reform, then Trixy has the answer:

May I suggest, should it be found that they have broken the rules, that the reform of the House of Lords which should happen is that the Labour Party stop giving out life peerages?

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