10 July 2012

Give the Lords reform rebels what they want

It was always the case that just ten days was always going to be far too short a period of debate for proper consideration of the Lords' reform bill.  Some of the proposals in the bill are deeply flawed - like the single 15 year term limit (an invitation to sloth and inactivity) - but its thrust is generally in the right direction.  It is unacceptable in a democracy for lawmakers not to have a public mandate and the sooner we move to an elected chamber the better.

So the coalition needs to listen to the views of the bill's opponents, the Labour party and others and adapt the proposals accordingly.  It also needs to timetable a lot more time for debate.  So instead of MPs breaking up for a near two month break over the summer - why doesn't the coalition recall them and use this time to allow the extended debate the rebels are demanding?

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