House of Lords Appointments Commission
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Wednesday 6th December 2023
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(11 months, 3 weeks ago)
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The Earl of Courtown (Con)
My Lords, can we hear from the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire? There is plenty of time for my noble friend.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
Could the Minister consider changing the status of the House of Lords Commission? There has been a range of reports from think tanks and committees in the other place which have suggested that what we need to do to these bodies, which are in effect constitutional guardians—the Committee on Standards in Public Life, ACOBA, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests and others—is to put them in statutory form so they are able to stand up to Prime Ministers who do not wish to observe the conventions of public life, as Boris Johnson so clearly did not. Is this part of the Government’s agenda?