which would be the only way to ensure that there weren't unseemly fights every day between Peers desperate for a
comfy seat to have a nap in after collecting the day's ex's**
Or they could go for some genuine reform
"It's too easy to say Lords reform is not a priority, but if Labour maintain their poll lead this will be in PM Ed Miliband's in-tray marked 'urgent'. Otherwise we are looking at a future where appointed cronies outnumber elected politicians on the national stage by three to one."** Peers are able to take a tax-free allowance of £300 a day for attending the upper house, though they do not have to attend debates or vote.
3 comments:
Tie the House of Lords in with the National Lottery. Every year 20% of the Lords are picked at random for replacement by Lottery winners. Instead of getting cash prizes, the Lottery winners get to claim allowances, expenses, the usual.
Result: money saved on combined Lottery payouts/HoL costs; a more representative HoL; replacement of cronies by members of the public; and a natural bastion angainst whatever idiocy the government of the day and its lapdog, the HoC, can come up with.
Genuine reform of the HoLs?
With the present bunch of piggies it's about as likely as Cameroon's EU referendum being a fair one!
Instead of looking at the Upper house we should be reforming the Lower one. The first step to that would be allowing us to recall/sack our MP.
"Otherwise we are looking at a future where appointed cronies outnumber elected politicians on the national stage by three to one."
Wasn't that what Blair intended when he "reformed" the HOL last time?
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