House of Lords Reform Bill

John Bercow Excerpts

Monday 3rd September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. and learned Lady for her questions and I am sorry to hear that she has an early autumn sore throat to battle with. She gets 10 out of 10 for spectacular insincerity, nevertheless. The Labour party used to campaign against privilege and patronage. The Labour party used to say that it was the party of the people. The Labour party used to believe that the second Chamber should be abolished altogether. Yet when push came to shove, what did it do? It—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Lucas, I thought you were auditioning to be a statesman but I am starting to have second thoughts. Calm yourself, man. We have only just come back and there are many long evenings ahead. I want to hear the Deputy Prime Minister.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Of course the Labour party does not like to be reminded that it has been converted from a party of the people to a party of the peerage. What did Labour Members do when they had the opportunity? They voted for the idea of reform but not for the means to deliver it. They delivered lofty speeches about the need to give the people a say about how to elect the legislators in the other place, but they would not even tell us how many days they wanted in the timetable motion to make that lofty rhetoric a reality.

I think the history books will judge the Labour party very unkindly indeed. When they had the opportunity to translate the great work of Robin Cook and of the right hon. Member for Blackburn into reality and finally had it within their grasp to be the friends of reform, they turned into miserable little party point-scoring politicians instead.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I gently point out to colleagues that large numbers of them wish to contribute and I wish to accommodate them. Brevity would assist us in that mission, and we will be led in it by Sir Tony Baldry.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

Why does the Deputy Prime Minister not believe that those who make the laws should be elected by constituencies of approximately equal numbers of electors? By the time of the next general election, my constituency will be approximately 90,000 electors. I love them all dearly and I am very proud to represent them all, but what possible justification can there be for a number of constituencies in this House to have 90,000 or more electors, and a number of Members of this House to represent 60,000 or fewer constituents? How is that fair? It is just as much gerrymandering as happened before the Great Reform Bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Patience rewarded. I call Dr Julian Lewis.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The spectacle of Cabinet Ministers voting against a major Government Bill without resigning their positions will surely bring collective Cabinet responsibility into total disrepute. Given that the Deputy Prime Minister believes in making progress by inches, will he not support a single, simple, one-line Bill to allow the exclusion from the upper House of people who have been convicted of serious criminal offences?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As I said before, that barely scratches the surface of the issues that exist in the House of Lords. On the first point, the failure of collective responsibility is a political one in which one party in the coalition Government has not honoured the commitments set out in the coalition agreement to proceed with reform of the House of Lords. Let me be clear—[Interruption.] If I can make myself heard, let me be clear: I have asked Liberal Democrat Members countless times to vote for things to which they strongly object, because they were in the coalition agreement. The hon. Gentleman cannot reasonably ask me to ask Liberal Democrat MPs to continue as if nothing has happened, when the other side of the coalition chooses not to do so on an issue as important as reform of the House of Lords. That is coalition politics, and it will continue until one party—the hon. Gentleman’s party or another—wins an outright majority. That did not happen in the previous election; that is why we have a coalition, and the country is better for it.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister and to colleagues.