House of Lords Reform (Draft Bill)

Geraint Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

In many respects the provisions of Lord Steel’s Bill are in part covered by the proposals that we are putting forward. For instance, one of the central planks of his Bill is that there should be an independent statutory appointments commission. That is exactly what is envisaged in this Bill. Another part of Lord Steel’s Bill provides for retirement of existing Members of the House of Lords. That has been taken up by the Leader of the Lords already. I do not think the ideas in Lord Steel’s Bill are incompatible with the longer-term reforms that we are proposing today.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

How can someone elected for 15 years be democratically accountable if they cannot stand for election again?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I said earlier, every time that has been looked at on a cross-party basis, the conclusion has been reached that in order to entrench rather than undermine the difference between the other place and this House, it is best to do so by giving any elected Members of a reformed House of Lords a long, non-renewable term so that they are not subject to the normal short-term temptations of party politics, to which some of us might be subject in this place.