Thoughts On The House Of Lords

[andrewducker]

First - some context! There's ongoing discussion about the British House
Of Lords* (which really ought to have its name changed, but for the
purposes of this post I'm going to refer to it that way) and how it ought
to be reformed. So I've been thinking about that while bored on the bus

I like that members of the House Of Lords cannot be leant on, and do not
have to worry about re-election. It allows them to function as impartially
as possible. I also like the idea that they get more and more expertise as
time goes on, and we don't have worry about losing that expertise after a
few years because they're pushed out of office.

What I'd like to see is a more proportional makeup of the House of Lords.
But I'm not convinced that direct election is the way to go for that. Nor
am I convinced that popularity is the correct way forward - if we're not
going to be re-electing them every few years then we're talking about a
very small number being elected each time (possibly one), and I can't see
that working well.

So, what I'd like to see for the House of Lords is this:

Membership
For life (with the possibility of removal in the case of senility or some
criminal acts). I think we can trust most people to retire when they reach
the point they aren't functioning well any more.

Election
If the number of members of the House of Lords is less than the number of
members of the House of Commons, then the party (which has at least one MP)
whose proportion of Lords is the furthest below the proportion** of their
share of the vote at the last national election will name a new member.

This would mean that the membership will vary slowly in line with the
proportions of recent elections, and stay generally in line with the
general public. At the moment we have a ridiculously high number of people
in the House of Lords(789 vs 650 MPs)***, so we may need either a purge
down to the same number as the House Of Commons to start with, or an
interim period where we replace 1 in every 2, to move things in the right
direction until they achieve parity.


So, having come up with this on the bus into work this morning, I'm sure
it's full of holes - someone care to point them out to me?

*The second chamber in the UK. It can revise and reject laws proposed by
the first chamber - the House Of Commons. It used to be made up of
hereditary peers, but nowadays is mostly made up of people appointed by
whichever party is in power.
**i.e. calculate for each party "Percentage of vote - (Party Lords/Total
Lords)" - the one that with the highest number gets to name the new member.
***Because having control of the Lords is handy, and there's no theoretical
limit to the membership, parties like stacking it full of their own
members.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Ten years strikes me as just enough time to get your head around the UK's legal system. Forcibly retiring someone from a management/executive position at a company would be considered insane, and I feel much the same way about the second chamber.

[thakil.livejournal.com]

Well I'd forcibly retire those who were bad at their job. I know the anology doesn't quite hold, but there needs to be a better mecanhism to remove lords than just in cases of extreme negligence. The more I think about it the more STV makes sense for this, as it means you can look at said lords record over the last 10 years and see how good it is. If its stressed that this house is designed to scrutinise legislature it could even be less party political.

I just really think jobs for life is a terrible idea for governance.

[matgb]

I agree on the second point myself, I'd at least have a retirement age or a term limit (even a recommended appointment duration) if this were to be implemented.

From what I understand of the current thinking, Govt, after much consultation, is looking at 15 year single terms, elected in thirds every 5 years at the same time as the GE, using STV. Existing Peers will vote amongst themselves to fill up the remaining slots for the next two PArliamentary terms while the new tranches come in.

Not my ideal solution, but I do like the idea of STV (using regional constituencies is likely, or possibly county) for it and it seems to be designed to keep the best elements of the current setup, especially the grandfathering method.