House of Lords Reform Bill

Thomas Docherty Excerpts

Monday 9th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Following that logic, the commitment to a referendum on House of Lords reform should have been included in the party manifestos.

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

It was in ours.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I know, but it was not in the manifestos of two of the three main parties.

The second point that I make to the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs Laing), who was a distinguished member of the Joint Committee, is that although she and I do not agree on this matter, I hope she does agree that the Government listened meticulously to the conclusions of the Joint Committee, which supported the main tenets of the Bill on a cross-party basis and was chaired by a Member of the other place who was not from either of the coalition parties. That shows how consensual we have been in working up our ideas.

I will move on from the myths that have abounded to some of the fears about the Bill, many of which, I accept, have been expressed in good faith. Broadly, there is a worry that we risk upsetting a delicate constitutional balance, creating a second Chamber that is too assertive and therefore a threat to this place, as was alluded to earlier. I am not surprised by that. It is part of a—