House of Lords: Reform
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord McFall of Alcluith(8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Baroness Neville- Rolfe) (Con)
My Lords, I start by sharing the sadness at the sudden death of Lord Stunell.
The House of Lords plays a crucial role by scrutinising, debating and holding the Government to account. However, reform, including in relation to the size and membership of this House, is not a priority in this Parliament.
The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is participating remotely.
Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]
My Lords, I will ask a very simple question. Due to the ageing nature of Labour’s membership of the House, we are now down to as few as 100 Labour Peers regularly attending proceedings. Meanwhile, the Government are openly challenging the excellent and well thought-through Fowler-McFall reforms with a stream of their own introductions, bringing the Conservative membership to nearly 300. If a Labour Government are elected, how can we possibly secure the public business against a background of such overwhelming odds? Is the Government’s strategy to fill the House to capacity and make it difficult for Labour to appoint without further breaching the reforms?
Vetting Social Media Accounts
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord McFall of Alcluith(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)
The guidelines apply to cross-government diversity networks and they should follow the guidelines, although, obviously, there can be local interpretation.
The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)
My Lords, we now have a virtual question from the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger.