------ Forwarded Message > From: "dasg...@aol.com" <dasg...@aol.com> > Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:05:20 EDT > To: Robert Millegan <ramille...@aol.com> > Cc: <ema...@aol.com>, <j...@aol.com>, <jim6...@cwnet.com> > Subject: If the Lords Get Out Voluntarily, They Can Keep Their Heads >
> Labour pledge to replace House of Lords with elected chamber > Jack Straw to publish manifesto plans to scrap the House of Lords and replace > it with chamber modelled on US Senate > * Polly Curtis <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pollycurtis> , Whitehall > correspondent > * guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> , Sunday 14 March 2010 > * > http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/14/labour-lords-elected-second-cha > mber > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/14/labour-lords-elected-second-ch > amber#history-link-box> > Ministers are working on proposals to transform the House of Lords > <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/lords> into a democratically elected > second chamber based loosely on the US Senate. > > The transport secretary, Lord Adonis, who would lose his seat in the Lords and > his post in government under the plans, confirmed today that they would be > published "very shortly". > > Leaked blueprints reveal the current 704-seat chamber would be reduced to 300 > seats, its members elected under a system of proportional representation. The > justice secretary, Jack Straw <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/jackstraw> , > will publish his proposals in a draft bill before the election and these will > feature prominently in Labour <http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour> 's > manifesto. Labour strategists hope that it will create a new dividing line > with the Tories, allowing them to portray the Conservatives as being > anti-reform. > > The second chamber would no longer be known as the House of Lords, a name > which has been in use since the 14th century. Members would face elections > every three terms and earn a salary of around £65,000. They would also be > subject to a US-style "recall ballot" which would disqualify them for > incompetence. > > The plans are designed to make parliament and legislative scrutiny more > accountable, but they predate the recent rows about privilege in the Lords > centring on the revelations of the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft's non-dom tax > status. > > Adonis told the BBC's Marr show: "The time has now come to make it legitimate > in the only way that a legislative assembly can be legitimate in the modern > world, which is to be elected. Of course you couldn't introduce that reform > until after the election, but there'll be firm proposals. And they build on > the big changes we've already made to the House of Lords notably the removal > of the hereditary peers which has transformed it from being an essentially > one-party Tory assembly with very little connection with modern life to being > a proper working assembly." > > There are still 92 hereditary peers, a concession the government made to force > through the 1999 reforms. Under the new plans, which were leaked to the Sunday > Telegraph, they would all be removed. > > It is understood the main sticking points still to be overcome are over what > to do about the 25 bishops in the Lords, whose removal would trigger a row > with the church, and how to manage the transition to the new system. > > A spokesman for the Conservatives said that Labour had had 13 years to reform > the Lords, and to launch proposals now was playing politics with the electoral > system. " We will work to build a consensus for a mainly elected second > chamber to replace the House of Lords," he said. > ------ End of Forwarded Message
