House of Lords: Reform

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bilimoria]

My Lords, the House of Lords, according to our website, is,

“a forum of expertise, making laws and providing scrutiny of Government”.

As we have heard, we are a check and balance for the other place, a wise counsellor and an adviser. Where those in the other place are inexperienced, we are experienced; where they are partisan, we are objective; where—it could be argued—they are lightweight, we are definitely heavyweight. If only the public understood—and if only the other place understood—the work that we do.

When I look around the Chamber, I struggle to think of another legislature in the world with such a deep well of expertise in every field you can think of. We have healthcare professionals, lawyers, athletes, television presenters, journalists and so on. When one looks at the 100 members of the Senate, one sees that 57 list law as their occupational background, 27 list business and 16 list education—real diversity there.

The reason that 40 per cent of amendments made by this House are accepted by the House of Commons is the quality of this House's advice and the level of our expertise. This would be lost were we to be elected. We have heard that we would challenge the primacy of the House of Commons. This House is unlike any other upper Chamber in the world in the way that it is made up. We do not have to copy another nation or nations. This country has never copied; historically it has always created and originated. We have always led the way. The idea of this Chamber becoming a proportionally representative elected House stinks of the European Parliament. MEPs are unknown to their constituents and have no idea who their constituents are: it is a farce.

In building a business from scratch, I have always tried to change things and build through relentless, restless innovation; but with this House, we should heed the old saying: “If it ain't broke, don't fix it”. To change the nature of the House would be completely to devalue it. The whole purpose of this House as a check and balance would be diluted and destroyed. This cannot happen, because—ironically—it is the appointed House that is the guardian of our nation, the unelected House that is the cornerstone of our democracy.