Tory peer speaks in favour of plans to democratise upper house but undermines one of the main arguments for reform
Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Lords, has said peers elected to the upper house under the government's reform plans would not be accountable to voters.
The Conservative peer also said that if his party was in power with a majority, it would not be going ahead with the plans to democratise the Lords.
Strathclyde spoke in favour of the plans in an interview for the BBC's Sunday Politics show, but undermined one of the main arguments used by supporters of reform, namely that having elections would make the chamber accountable to voters.
Asked how having peers elected for 15-year non-renewable terms would make them accountable, Strathclyde said he was being careful not to claim the plans would do so. "Because you're right - they're not accountable," he said.
Strathclyde said the new peers would be elected but also independent. "They will use their independence, their knowledge, their expertise ? all of the things that the current House of Lords does ? but they won't need to come back to the electorate," he said. "There will be no power of whips, there will be no deselection. Once they're there, they're there for 15 years."
In its 2010 election manifesto, in a section headed "Make politics more accountable", the Conservative party said it would work to build a consensus for a mainly elected second chamber. But when it was put to Strathclyde that Lords reform would not be happening if the Conservatives were in power on their own, Strathclyde replied: "I think that's true."
He said: "David Cameron has been well quoted as saying this wasn't his top priority and it may well have been a third-term issue if there was a Conservative government. But we're in a coalition, we wholly accept we're in coalition, this is an important demand for the Liberal Democrats and we've worked very closely together, and including with the Labour party, in order to try to come up with this bill."
Cameron's comment about Lords reform being a third-term priority was originally made in private. It has been widely reported since as expressing his lack of commitment to the policy, but it is unusual for a Conservative minister to confirm in public that the party views Lords reform in this light.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/01/elected-peers-accountable-lords-leader
West Bromwich Albion Tony Cottee The FA Rape Chamonix Restaurants
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento