Now read. They are unelected and yet have the power to obstruct approved legislations. Bright Blue Scotland has called for the unelected chamber to … As the House of Commons became the prime chamber the powers of the Lords were eroded and life peerages broke the historical link with land ownership. This is spiked’s position, too. 187 talking about this. The House of Lords costs approximately £93m to run each year. We could set up a system, as is already the case for those who apply to be a crossbench peer, where the House of Lords appointments commission questions each new candidate on the contribution that he or she would make if their appointment was confirmed. The role of the British Parliament’s second unelected chamber has been debated for a century to no avail. In the past 12 months the House of Lords has made almost 2,300 changes to improve legislation; apart from daily oral questions, peers have tabled more than 8,000 written questions and taken part in more than 160 debates; while well over 300 peers have been active members of select committees which have published more than 150 reports on subjects ranging from tuition fees to intergenerational fairness. Brexit isn’t therapy. Despite minor reform in the late 1990s, the future of the House of Lords remains ambiguous at best. I very much hope that May will continue to follow her excellent policy of moderation. The institution of the House of Lords is an affront to democracy and accountability. The House of Lords must be reformed and ultimately abolished. Abolish the House of Lords! Responding to the Burns report, she said: “I intend to continue with the restraint which I have exercised to date and, when making appointments, to allocate them fairly, bearing in mind the results of the last general election and the leadership shown by each party in terms of retirements.”. Hand-wringing over the Lords has been a national pastime, long pre dating any recent controversies. These peers are our last hope to kill off the horrible thing that 17.4million racist dimwits voted for, they trilled. Sure, we’ve left the EU, and the trade talks continue, but what about the spirit of Brexit? That’s it, the Remainer elites cry: get rid of the Lords! The 'Rich' should not be allowed to dictate laws and legislation based on their financial worth or 'lineage' The truth is anyone who accepts a British Empire Honour or Peerage demeans their life and achievements. The House of Lords is a relic from a bygone era. The biggest controversy over Malevolent May’s decision to dole out 41 awards and peerages has been the Knighthood conferred on former English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott. ... Time to Abolish the House of Lords - Now! Last modified on Mon 3 Jun 2019 14.08 EDT. The House of Lords should be reformed. The House of Lords should be abolished after the UK leaves the EU, a conservative think tank has argued.. This is an archaic institution which is accountable to no one and yet wields huge influence over how our laws are made. But all this has now changed, for clichés are weak. Willie Sullivan started this petition to Boris Johnson (Prime Minister) The unelected House of Lords – with around 800 members – is about to get even bigger. In recent manifestos, we have committed to the creation of an elected Senate of the Nations and Regions. In killing off the House of Lords, the Commons was making good on one of the demands of the revolutionary Leveller movement, which in 1648 demanded that the Commons should be ‘the supreme authoritie of the people’ and should be defended against ‘all pretences of Negative Voices, either in King or Lords’. Now this role, widely accepted, has been thrown into doubt. Plans to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a 300-strong, wholly elected second chamber are to be unveiled by ministers in a key political move ahead of the general election. The House of Lords must be reformed and ultimately abolished. Not Remainers, not Brexiteers, not sinners, not saints, not anybody. Changes in personnel do not alter that one iota. Just like the monarchy and private schools, it is symptomatic of a society which pays lip service to democracy and meritocracy but so often falls short of achieving it in reality. Those who say it’s too far-fetched or impossible to abolish the Lords should bear in mind that it’s been done before. The people’s desire to break free of the EU and take back democratic control cannot be fought for in an institution that poses a greater threat to British democracy than the EU did. Have they lost all contact with reality? And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy. That vote, won by 337 votes to 224, is the only time the Commons has voted for a wholly-elected second chamber. Critics of the second chamber argue that it is time to abolish the House of Lords, calling it "broken, morally corrupt, and anti-democratic". I do not. There has been concern over the work of sitting Lords. Some of them are very nice people. “The petitioners, therefore, request that the House of Commons urges the Government to abolish the House of Lords in the interests of democracy, accountability and transparency.” Liberal Democrat life peer Baroness Angela Harris of Richmond also said the Lords should be more inclusive and representative of the UK population. 10,000 Date closed 10 September 2020 Get petition data (json format) About petition data. Seventy nine percent of the British public agree that the House of Lords requires reforming, but cannot decide on the proportion of Lords elected and appointed. In March 2007, I voted to abolish the Lords and – when that was defeated – for a fully-elected chamber. More than 150 years ago, the constitutional writer Walter Bagehot suggested that “the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it”. The Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 regulates the procedure for women bishops to enter the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual. It didn’t do these things because it was inhabited by ‘bad’ people. The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each … It has so many members the House of Lords itself set up a Lord Speaker’s Committee on the size of the House. The whole system is fundamentally flawed. To enquire about republishing spiked’s content, a right to reply or to request a correction, please contact the managing editor, Viv Regan. This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months. Abolish the House of Lords N A started this petition to UK Parliament The House of Lords is made up of unelected Peers, many of whom are determined - and have the power to - derail the Government's time table for Brexit. In our view, nobody should be given a seat in the House of Lords. So what is the purpose of the House of Lords? by: Shane Beaver; recipient: Theresa May, Prime Minister ; Following the Supreme Court's decision to insist that Parliament must decide when and how Article 50 is triggered, the Remain Campaign are calling this a "victory for democracy". Lord Steel will tell a lecture to the Scottish Liberal Club on Tuesday evening that peerages should be scrapped to make way for federalism in the UK. Some in the Brexit camp have argued that the ennobling of Brexiteers is a positive thing for democracy, even that it confers recognition or legitimacy on Brexit. The House of Lords is a relic that belongs to the museum. Undemocratic and Unaccountable “The House of Lords is an affront to democracy and accountability”. The house of Lords is an archaic establishment that hinders the elected governments ability to execute the wishes of the people and as such should be abolished. The liberal elite in this country has no shame. In this case, democratic principle. Sign up for email alerts or use our RSS feeds. Not words … It is populated entirely with busts of past luminaries of the House of Lords, each of whom has served as British prime minister. Let’s be clear what this means. The House of Lords is a medieval relic from a time when land ownership was a major source of political power, and just as ownership of land moved from generation to generation so did the titles. The sex-and-drugs scandal and subsequent resignation from the House of Lords by Baron Sewel of Gilcomstoun merely re-confirms that Britain's political elite is rotten and out of touch with the real world. The House of Lords needs reforming, but abolishing it is not the answer. BORIS JOHNSON has been told to abolish the House of Lords, according to an Express.co.uk poll, after unelected peers voted down key elements within his crucial Internal Market Bill. And yet there is a problem on the other side of this latest discussion, too. That is the first time a prime minister has made such a commitment. Lord Steel will tell a lecture to the Scottish Liberal Club on Tuesday evening that peerages should be scrapped to make way for federalism in the UK. The House of Lords is a fundamental part of the British parliament by which we are ruled in Scotland. The only one larger than the 792-strong House of Lords is the 2,980-member Chinese National People’s Congress. ABOLISH THE HOUSE OF LORDS September 4, 2020 This week in the House of Commons I presented a Parliamentary Petition calling for the abolition of the House of Lords. In most things, yes - although not in everything. 187 talking about this. What the Petitions Committee is doing Petition Abolish the House of Lords To close down the House of Lords - it has no part in a democracy. Labour plans to abolish House of Lords by only appointing peers who will vote to sack themselves. For four years it whooped and salivated as the House of Lords used its unelected, unearned clout to try to stymie and even stop Brexit. As this paper reported at the beginning of the year, I am opposed to what I called “passengers” in the Lords who make no or very little contribution. The House of Lords can be viewed as a ‘revising chamber’. spiked takes a wholly different position, one that is driven by that terribly old-fashioned thing, principle. Abolish the House of Lords NOW. The Upper Chamber or House of Lords has long been past its sell-by-date, and since it is filled chiefly by those opposed to Brexit there is every likelihood that the government will fail to achieve their goal and the people will be denied their democratic decision to leave the EU. The House of Lords is currently the second largest legislative chamber in the world, behind China. spiked intends to play our part. The institution of the House of Lords is an affront to democracy and accountability. The Parliament Act 1911 removed the ability of the House of Lords to veto money bills; with any other bills, the House of Commons was given powers to overrule the Lords' veto after three parliamentary sessions. In 1649, during the English Revolution, and following numerous frustrations of the revolutionary will by the inhabitants of the Lords, the Commons decreed that the Lords was ‘useless and dangerous to the people of England’ and got rid of it. Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey tells Sky News that she wants to scrap the House Of Lords. The people of Stoke-on-Trent and Merthyr Tydfil and Essex did not vote for Brexit, and stick with it during the deranged meltdown of the Remainer establishment, in order to witness the ennoblement of people who share their views on the European Union. I should also add it is already the case that every member must make a declaration that they have undertaken parliamentary work when they claim the daily allowance. The commission's recommendations were rejected by a vote in the House of Lords. The Lords must be abolished as a matter of democratic urgency. Since the Burns report was published there have been almost 70 departures from the House but there is clearly more to do. The House of Lords is the world’s second largest legislative chamber – behind only the Chinese National People’s Congress. Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman unveils the plan, calling parliament's upper house … Baron Home of the Hirsel occupies pride of place, the very last of Britain's hereditary peers to hold the post, even if he had to renounce his title, becoming plain Sir Alec Douglas-Home, to do so. “In the coming days the House of Lords will grow even bigger as the Prime Minister announces another batch of peerages. In a clash between unelected posh peers who love the EU and the largest democratic bloc in the history of this country who voted to leave the EU, Remoaners knew which side to take: the feudalistic machinations of the most undemocratic chamber in Europe over the democratic desires of the masses. Many life peers come to the Lords without much idea of the contribution they are expected to make. In those circumstances, having a second chamber to ensure legislation does not slip through without proper debate and analysis is absolutely essential. The House of Lords, formally known as The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled, also known as the House of Peers and domestically usually referred to simply as the Lords, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Membership is granted by appointment or by heredity or official … If there is any question, the independent commissioner for standards can investigate. Picking fights with everyone will come back to haunt Boris Johnson. It is at this point that prime ministers are tempted to reward rather than ask what contribution a person under consideration can make. They wanted power. The unelected House of Lords – with around 800 members – is about to get even bigger. The Guardian survey of participation underlines one further step that we should now consider. 4,810 signatures. Of course, those sections of the Remain elite that are now bristling at the Lords because some Brexiteers have been ennobled to sit on its benches are not driven by democratic principle. Unelected Lords should not have the power to hold the British Government to ransom. The same could be said of the House Of Lords. The Brexit revolt cannot be protected by a body designed to temper the revolting desires of the people. The shadow business secretary, who is … They are a minority, but they undo much of the good work done by the vast majority. No legal barrier effectively stops the Remainer Lords in their course It is a constitutional cliché that the House of Lords exercises only a revising power, and that the legislating power resides in the House of Commons alone. It has over 800 peers - 484 of whom attended the Lords each day in … ABOLISH THE HOUSE OF LORDS Why? Given the Guardian’s reports on the House of Lords, you might expect me, in my role as Lord Speaker, to come forward with some blanket defence. The cost of the House of Lords has ballooned. It proves Boris takes Brexit seriously, apparently. Last week’s colourful dissolution peerage list demonstrates again the necessity of that commitment. The House of Lords is a chamber of experts. abolish the house of lords This week in the House of Commons I presented a Parliamentary Petition calling for the abolition of the House of Lords. Inherited power has no place in a democracy. There is now a very serious risk that Brexit will become a museum piece, institutionalised (and possibly neutered) in the Lords rather than enacted in the concrete world of people’s lives and people’s power. If the government truly wanted to signal its recognition for the spirit of Brexit it wouldn’t have stuffed the Lords with more people – it would have given the people a referendum on the future of the Lords. Following the creation of the first, far from democratic parliament in 1295, these monarchical consulters went on to form what would become the second chamber: the House of Lords to the House of Commons. This body we are commonly told must be … Whether its members are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people, principled or self-serving, on the side of Brexit or on the side of stopping Brexit, makes no difference. Rather, this is what the Lords exists to do: to temper, tame and in some instances block the will of the Commons and the will of the people, especially when that will poses a threat to establishment interests, as it did during the revolution and following the vote for Brexit. The rules clearly prohibit peers acting as paid lobbyists and also require public disclosure of sources of income. If you do, you will continue to win the support of the teeming millions out there who want Britain to be a greater democracy than it currently is. The Brexit spirit can no more be embodied in the Lords than a camel can go through the eye of a needle. • Norman Fowler is Lord Speaker and was a cabinet minister with Margaret Thatcher for 11 years, Parliament’s second chamber is essential to scrutinise government – having fewer life peers is a start to improving it, Peer who never spoke in Lords last year claims £50,000 expenses, MPs plan to build themselves a palace. Having been degraded by successive party leaders who have stuffed it full of cronies, it is not fit for purpose in the 21st century and must be replaced with an elected chamber.’ – Nigel Farage, November 21, 2019 They mean well. This is a debate that is overdue by about 100 years. The House of Lords is undemocratic . In the second piece in our five-part programme for democratic reform, Tim Black makes the case for abolishing the House of Lords. 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