House of Lords reform.

                                                                House of Lords reform.

The House of Lords is in dire need of reforming. There is no two ways about it. This party began work on changing the upper house a century ago and now we must finish the job. I'm not denying that an upper house is necessary, if anything an upper house keeps an eye on the lower house and acts as a further brake, slowing the rapid reform or change and make sure that Bills have been properly regulated.

The make up of the house has changed over the years and moved away from hereditary lords who can veto at will any bill coming through the Commons at will to a more regulated body that can make amendments and not defer legislation indefinitely. Slowly reform has meant that they have to ultimately bow to the power of the lower, elected house. However, and the AV and Electoral reform bill is a prime example of this, they can delay and delay with the reviews of the bills and drag it on and on slowing actual reform and change that could be a massive benefit to the whole country.

In my opinion the future of the country should not be decided by someone who was Tony Blair's best mate, or someone who has donated 4 Million Pounds to the Conservative party or even someone who is descended from a feudal landlord or someone who was exceptionally brave at the battle of Marlborough. What gives any of these people the right to determine which policy goes through and doesn't? Who are they ultimately responsible to other than the Queen? Should, in the twenty-first century, a first world industrial power still rely on a totally unelected body in the capacity that it does?

My two pence worth is that why not open the house up to a PR vote?  Lets face it the Lords do not have to have constituencies, they don't represent anyone in particular so if we are going to have them elected then why not have a PR vote? If there was a PR elected house of lords they would represent a clear picture of the nations politics and have a clear mandate from the people, this coupled with an AV elected house of commons would give the people their constituency MPs also thus creating the fairest possible system available. After all this country needs its constituent MPs, it keeps politicians on the responsible to someone and they represent the needs of the people, if the government was PR it would be difficult to tie one politician to one area but the Lords... 

Also it would give a good foundation for a Republic should the nation ever decide to move away from Monarchy - Although it should be noted I'm not advocating that as a definite or positive move!