House of Lords: Reform

Lord Craig of Radley Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Craig of Radley]

My Lords, along with many others in your Lordships’ House and beyond, I strongly oppose the proposed restructuring of this second Chamber. Any major constitutional reform should have a broad consensus of acceptance if it is to be sound and stable over the years ahead. We do not seem to be anywhere near that. I speak briefly to place on record my opposition, and to give—maybe by now re-emphasise—four particular reasons why.

It is surely wrong for the two Houses to be constantly at odds about their constitutional arrangements, and to be more focused on debates and discussions of this one topic than on other more immediate and pressing legislation. Indeed, the considerable time spent on this issue following the major upheaval of 1998 serves to underline this point. Far too much time—to no good concluding purpose—has been devoted to debating and studying reform without achieving any confidence that the end of a long tunnel of discussion is reaching a tenable conclusion, let alone one that enjoys a broad consensus of acceptance. A constant preoccupation with the reform—or abolition—of this House denies opportunities for more progressive and desirable work and scrutiny.

My second concern is that it seems naive to presume that the Parliament Acts, specifically designed to limit the legislative power of hereditary and unelected Lords, can be applied without change or demur to a Chamber of democratically elected Members. Sooner rather than later, a second elected Chamber would attempt to repeal or redraw these long-standing arrangements, and probably other past conventions, as no longer being relevant to a Parliament of two elected Houses. As the Joint Committee on Conventions, under the able chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Cunningham of Felling, summarised it,

“should any firm proposals come forward to change the composition of the House of Lords, the conventions between the Houses would have to be examined again”.

No clause in a “Reform of the Lords” Bill—perhaps “Abolition of the Lords” Bill might be more apt—can bind successive Parliaments in such a manner that the Parliament Acts and existing conventions that give the Commons primacy will survive without challenge. They would be even more unlikely to do so were this Bill outrageously to be enacted by recourse to the Parliament Acts.

My third concern is related to this. With the long, 15-year tenure proposed for membership of the second House, there could be a period of perhaps five years or more when the majority party loyalty in the two Chambers could be at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Take for instance a Government led by party A with a majority in the Commons being roundly beaten by party B after a decade in office. The transfer of government from party A to party B would be immediate, as reflected in their majority in the Commons. But with 15 years of membership in the second Chamber, the expectation must be that following that transfer of government the two Houses would not enjoy the same party balance. Party A might have surrendered power and government to party B in the Commons, but in the second Chamber party A could still command a sizeable majority over party B for five years or more. Given that, would there not be every likelihood of repeated battles and lack of progress over the whole of that Parliament, thus affecting much if not all legislation? A stalemate condition could ensue, which is not what the nation would like or think it reasonable to expect.

Finally, when the country is in difficult financial straits, it seems quite wrong to expect the taxpayers, let alone this House, to accept with equanimity a doubling or trebling or more of the cost of a replacement elected Chamber in perpetuity. Is it not yet another unfortunate example of legislators believing that they need to pay scant heed to the significant increase in the costs of their proposals? No convincing case has been made that the present House of Lords is failing in its responsibilities or not giving good value for money; rather, it is widely held to be working well. I agree with my noble friend Lady Boothroyd, and others: “If it ain't broke, then don’t fix it”. Perhaps this is another issue crying out to figure on a list of government U-turns.