House of Lords: Reform

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby]

My Lords, I had the privilege of being Chairman of Ways and Means for five years when the noble Baroness, Lady Boothroyd, was Speaker. Both she and I believe totally in the primacy of the House of Commons. Having said that, I hope that the coalition Government will fully take on board the probing questions which she asked earlier this afternoon.

I have one thing to add: the public trust the House of Lords and at the moment it is a fact of life that they do not trust the House of Commons. We have a very strange situation in that the one part which the British public trust is to be removed or dramatically changed and the other part is just to be tinkered with. As many noble Lords have said today, we are here to revise and to challenge the Government of the day and to do that you need men and women with experience of life and experience of how to legislate. In the 10-plus years in which I have been a Member of the House, that is how this House has proved its validity. However, this House has had an opportunity but still has not acted on the Bill presented by my noble friend Lord Steel. The Bill may need some additional elements added to it, but it is there and could be very usefully implemented.