House of Lords Reform Bill

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 3rd September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I knew the question was going to be a nice one. No, I will not. [Interruption.] Let me explain. First, I do not think I would be very welcome in the current House of Lords, given my somewhat undiplomatic descriptions of the illegitimacy of that House. Secondly, I personally will not take up a place in an unreformed House of Lords. Call me old-fashioned—it just sticks in the throat. I have campaigned all my life, and my party has campaigned for decades now, for the simple idea of democracy, and that is what I will continue to do.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

As one of the Government Members who favour an elected upper House, may I express my regret at the Government’s decision? The Deputy Prime Minister spoke of inching forward. Although we will obviously now have to wait until a future Parliament for legislation, I urge him to consider some means of inching forward by way of discussions and so on in this Parliament.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

To be frank, I do not want to hold out to my hon. Friend and other reformers a great deal of hope that we will make progress, even by inches, during the remainder of this Parliament. We have taken the process a considerable distance and I do not think that those of us who are clearly disappointed that we were unable to cross the finishing line during this Parliament—I have always been very grateful for his support for the idea of democratic reform of the other place—should ignore the importance of a very significant majority on Second Reading in favour of a Bill that set out specific provisions for reforming the other place. It was just because of a reluctance to translate that blueprint into something that was legislatively workable that we cannot proceed. I do not think that I or the Government would have been forgiven, whatever one’s views on this, if we had decided, as the right hon. Member for Blackburn has suggested, to soldier on valiantly for months and months, getting into the trenches on this, when there are so many other things to be getting on with. The Prime Minister and I will make some announcements shortly on how we will use the opportunity of an unexpected gap in the legislative timetable to push forward measures that will help to create growth and jobs in our economy.