House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 11th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (LD)]

My Lords, I support this Bill as a useful step towards a reformed second Chamber. This further step towards reform has been a long time coming, notwithstanding the remarks from the Conservative Benches about the fact it has been produced in haste.

I count myself very fortunate to have joined your Lordships’ House in 1998, when the hereditary Peers were still here en masse. In 1999, I took part in the passage of the House of Lords Reform Bill and was surprised that the Conservative Opposition Front Bench, almost all hereditary Peers, sat with their feet up on the Dispatch Box, red socks ablaze. Surely it cannot have been mere bad manners, so I presume it was a mark of disapproval towards the Bill and the Government. I wonder what form that disapproval will take, beyond the remarks we have heard this time round.

Early on, I learned that some hereditary Peers make a substantial contribution to this House. I particularly remember those who became friends: the Earl of Selborne, who chaired the Select Committee I was on, with his wise contributions on the environment and agriculture; the Countess of Mar, exceptional for being a female hereditary and in how seriously she took the role we all have in keeping the House properly self-regulated; and my late noble friend Earl Russell, whose forensic knowledge of history and the constitution was counterbalanced by his sense of humour. However, for the reasons so ably laid out by my noble friends Lord Newby and Lord Rennard, the time has come to end the right to sit in this House because you were born into a certain lineage.

With that end in mind, the logical next step is to reform the titles of those who sit in the second Chamber and the name of the Chamber itself. The noble Lord, Lord Northbrook, and others have mentioned the term “Senate”, which is well understood by the public. There are lots of problems associated with having a title such as “Lord” or “Baroness”. Most importantly, for me, having that title means that many people feel automatically distanced from you when you are trying to talk to them about the work and issues here. The noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, explained it so well, saying that titles and ermine distract from the nature of what we actually work on.

One of the more amusing moments over my title came at the Gramercy Park Hotel, in New York. The receptionist, on seeing my passport, said: “‘Baroness’, that’s a cute name. What do they call you for short, ‘Nessie’?” It was perfectly understandable in a country where “The Dukes of Hazzard” was showing on TV.

There is a more invidious reason: the fact, as others have mentioned, including the noble Lords, Lord Birt and Lord Foulkes, that some people want a title but do not want to take part in the legislative process. Those people make a fat donation to their party, get the title and then barely show their faces. The argument must be made to have titles as honours but to divorce them from the job we do here as a legislature.

I wish this modest step of reform well and hope that the next steps are not long in being brought forward by the Government.

Women, Peace and Security Bill [HL]

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 15th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (LD)]

My Lords, I join others in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson, on introducing her Bill. She was at ABColombia’s meeting last Wednesday, as I was, so she will know what I am going to say.

Colombia is a country that has suffered for decades from war. Women have disproportionately suffered. In 2016 peace accords were introduced, and they have held though several years and several elections. The UK has been very supportive of that process both morally and practically. I was pleased on Wednesday to hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington, who spoke about her recent visit. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, who is about to speak, has also been very involved with Colombia. But why has Colombia been omitted from the national action plan of the 12 focus countries? Although it is not currently at war, the peace accords are still very fragile and I feel that it deserves to be one of the 12 focus countries so that we can continue with that support.

The second issue that the UK could rectify to help Colombia and the peace accords is to terminate the UK bilateral trade investment treaty, which comes to the end of its first 10-year term this year. You would think that a bilateral investment deal would help to diversify opportunities for Colombians away from coca. Some time ago I was fortunate to be part of a parliamentary delegation to Colombia, which was particularly concerned to see how that diversification could take place and what challenges rural areas faced in finding other economic opportunities. Such an investment agreement sounds helpful, but the reality has turned out to be very different. UK companies, particularly the mining companies Glencore, Anglo American and others, have used this deal very cynically. They have challenged Colombia on environmental issues, the human rights of indigenous people, human rights generally and minimum wage legislation. Whenever they find that Colombia is trying to protect its environment or people in ways that inhibit their wishes, they use the investor-state dispute settlement to sue. Last year Colombia’s pending ISDS claims totalled more than $13 billion. That money is desperately needed to further the peace accords. The country wants to invest in rebuilding in line with those accords, but this treaty is draining the resources that are needed to do so. Next week the Government’s Trade Minister is visiting Colombia. Will he join with the Colombian Government in terminating this agreement? At last Wednesday’s meeting we heard from the ambassador that that is what Colombia wants too.

We should support Colombia in every way possible. Those two simple measures would really help in that process.