In the Queen’s speech on the 9th May, the controversial House of Lords reform proposals were mentioned.
The Tories seem annoyed that this area is going to be legislated. Nick Clegg seems to have got it in there.
What gets me is the very simple fact that even having an unelected second Chamber is just a complete and utter nonsense. How can we even begin to call ourselves a democracy when proposed laws can be debated and amended by people who have not been elected. I hear all sorts of arguments on this topic. Somebody recently stated to me that all mature democracies have a second Chamber. Without even trying to figure out whether this is right, what a pathetic argument! Please tell me which mature democracies have a perfect system of Government.
The House of Lords should not be reformed. It should go. End of.
On a similar level how is it that nobody seems to have noticed the insanity of having non elected Cabinet Ministers. The leader of the House of Lords is a Cabinet Minister – what nonsense.
The Right Honourable Baroness Warsi (I know she is unpaid) sits in the Cabinet.
There are other Ministers of State (non Cabinet Ministers) who are unelected.
Last time I looked (and of course things do change) Lord Green of Hurst Pierpoint was a Minister of State of the Business Innovations & Skills Department as was Baroness Wilcox.
The Parliamentary under Secretary of State is Lord Astor of Hever.
And this goes on.
I will tell you how we can deal with the House of Lords. Bring in a straight forward Act of Parliament which reads as follows:-
“From today, the House of Lords will close down. The doors will be locked. Any duties which they perform or any requirements at all in any existing laws are from now on abolished”.
They could then use the buildings as a Drop in Centre.
My next topic will be “could we manage with 100 MPs?”
Some of you may also wish to buy my new book. It is a very short read – “The Greek Rich List”.
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