House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill

Lord Jenkin of Roding Excerpts

Friday 28th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jenkin of Roding (Con)]

My Lords, I join with others in thanking my noble friend Lord Steel for his persistence in bringing us to this point. I shall refer briefly later to the remarkable speech of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell.

Perhaps I may say a few words about what one of the consequences of passing this Bill might be. I recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Steel, indicated that this might be for another day, but I am responding to the wishes of certain noble Lords who have urged me to speak and to say something about the issue of a dignified and honourable ceremony that might accompany a Peer’s resignation. I am encouraged by the fact that when the Leader of the House spoke to what I always call the Cormack-Norton group he indicated that he would welcome views on this because it is clearly for the authorities of the House to take this forward.

As has been said, Clause 1 provides, for the first time, a statutory right for a Peer to leave the House permanently and not to be able to rescind that decision. As the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, reminded us, there is an existing, more informal, process but, as he said, with some confused implications. For instance, I have never been quite clear whether the process that the noble Lord is now following means that there will no longer be a reason for sending him a Writ of Summons. This Bill would make it absolutely clear that a Peer who takes advantage of the provision in Clause 1 and retires from the House would no longer be entitled to receive a Writ of Summons. That is a necessary and very important step.

The clause would establish the right to retire, but we need to recognise that something more than that will be necessary. I am thinking about a ceremony of some sort by which a retirement might be recognised by the House. When the Government responded to the report of the Select Committee in another place, they made it clear that it was very much a matter for this House to consider, and indeed a number of things could be done in this Chamber that would not require further legislation. Perhaps I may draw attention briefly to some of the suggestions that have been made and which my noble friend the Leader of the House might like to consider.

My starting point is what I shall refer to as the Hunt report, the report of the Leader’s Group on Members Leaving the House, chaired by my noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral. It reported over three years ago, so quite a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, but as he said,

“an honourable and dignified means of retirement would be desirable”.

Perhaps I may remind the House what was said about that:

“We also recommend that the departure of a retiring member after distinguished service should be marked by the House in some suitable way, perhaps analogous to the ceremony of introduction by which the beginning of a member’s Parliamentary career is marked”.

That is certainly one suggestion that should be followed up. As noble Lords have said, I know that it has attracted a good deal of support, but without the detail of how it might be done and what the process would actually involve, it is a little difficult to form a judgment. However, it is a proposal that should be carried forward.

Other suggestions have been made since then. They followed the evidence given to the Select Committee in the other place, and I should like to quote what was said at paragraph 50 of the committee’s report by the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield, who has just left the Chamber:

“the lack of take-up of the voluntary scheme is partly due to the fact that ‘if people depart they would like some recognition of what they have done for the House. It does not necessarily have to be financial, but some sort of acknowledgement of services rendered might be worth exploring.’ He suggested creating a ‘decommissioning ceremony’ and argued that ‘people would like rites of passage’”.

It is very much a British characteristic that we like things to be done formally and visibly as evidence of the underlying decisions that are being taken. This might well be included in my noble friend’s study.

Further suggestions have since been put forward, one of which is that a retiring Member should have the opportunity to make a speech in the Chamber to mark, as it were, the end of his parliamentary career in this House. I have to say that few of us would be able to match the eloquence, wit and profundity of the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, which we all enjoyed, but perhaps there might be an opportunity to do that. In another place it is managed by the Speaker calling a Member who has indicated that he no longer intends to stand at the next general election. He is given the opportunity to make a speech. I do not think it happened when I left that House, but I am told that it certainly does happen now.

Another suggestion is for some sort of tribute to be paid to the retiring Peer in the Chamber. On this I should like to make two points. First, there can be no first and second-class Peers retiring. It has to be the same for everyone, and I think that this would be widely supported in the Chamber. The second one is that it might be quite embarrassing for the Peer himself to be present when that happens. For instance, when tributes are paid to a retiring Clerk of the Parliaments, he is not in the Chamber to hear them. That, too, ought to be considered.

A further suggestion I have heard recently is that, instead of an oral tribute, it could become customary, when a Peer has retired or is about to retire, for there to be some sort of written tribute in the House magazine. This happens when a Peer dies, but of course only if particular circumstances make it relevant. It should happen for retired Peers. The provision of the necessary short paragraph or two that might form part of an article could possibly be a role for the Information Office of the House.

There are other things that may be done to mark the recognition of past service. Could not Peers who have retired be granted the same sort of facilities that were granted to hereditary Peers who left the House in 1999: the availability of a pass, access to the refreshment facilities and use of the Library? This was agreed after that Bill became law, and so far as I am aware, it has created no difficulties for the management of the House in any way. That, too, would perhaps help to attract more Peers to the notion of retirement. The right reverend Prelate—I almost called him “my noble friend” because he is—drew attention to what happens to bishops when they retire. Many of us will know how much that is appreciated by bishops when they are no longer able to sit as Members of this House, and I have to say that it is greatly appreciated by the rest of us because we can continue to enjoy their friendship in the premises here. That is of considerable importance. It already exists in two cases that I have mentioned, and why should it not happen for people who retire?

Another suggestion has been made to which I do not think my noble friend Lord Hunt referred. It is that there should be some enabling role for the Leaders of the parties and the Convenor of the Cross Benches to encourage Members who might be contemplating retirement and help them to take the steps that would be necessary to do so. There is merit in this proposal. However, the report of my noble friend Lord Hunt went on to point out that party leaders may not wish to encourage their supporters to retire because that would upset the balance of the House. This is a harsh political reality of which one has to take notice. There is no firm expectation, of course, that anyone who retires from this House could anticipate a new appointment from the same party to fill the vacancy. Indeed, part of the objective of the exercise is to help to reduce our number. Paragraph 36 of the report states that,

“the party leaders and the Convenor should develop a new understanding … about the proportion of seats in the current House on which it would be appropriate for each party or group to rely”.

That takes me into very deep water indeed and I am not sure how it could be approached. It is no different today, three years after the publication of the report, and, with a general election looming, I do not think that it is likely to be a possibility for the moment; but no doubt my noble friend the Leader of the House will want to consider it.

In the absence of further primary legislation, this Bill is not going to lead to a large reduction in the size of the Chamber, but as many other noble Lords have said, it is a very important incremental step along a road that we must take in the interests of the reputation of this House. I therefore warmly support the Bill.