House of Lords Reform Bill

Wayne David Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

And how very wise Members of the European Parliament are not to interfere in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

I turn finally to the issue of the progress that we have sought to make with the Government’s legislative programme, and with the Bill in particular. The Deputy Prime Minister established and chaired a cross-party Committee to develop policy and explore the contentious issues. There was a five-hour debate once the White Paper and draft Bill were published in 2011. There has been more than 22 hours of debate on the subject in the upper House since the beginning of the year.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Sir George Young]

For the last time.

[Wayne David]

As the Government now accept that there is a need for consensus on the issue, will the Leader of the House give a commitment to open meaningful dialogue immediately with the Oppositioning?

[Sir George Young]

The hon. Gentleman almost tests my patience. We are always open to discussion through the usual channels on issues such as this. I have to say gently to him that before we had even tabled the programme motion, the Labour Opposition said that they would vote against it. That did not indicate the sort of consensual interchange of ideas that the hon. Gentleman has just invited me to engage in.

We established a Joint Committee to consider the draft Bill. That Joint Committee held evidence sessions on 16 separate days—approximately 48 hours of parliamentary time—with the Minister giving evidence on four separate occasions. After the Joint Committee had concluded, we responded to it and we have amended the Bill before the House in the light of its recommendations.

As I confirmed to the House at the beginning, the Government will not proceed this evening with the programme motion. I want sufficient time to debate and vote on these issues, but I also want sufficient time for the House to scrutinise other important Bills in our legislative programme—major reforms to the banks, public service pensions, electricity markets, adoption and support for children with special needs, the state pension, the creation of a national crime agency, and the rest. Some substantial constitutional measures have passed through Parliament in the past two years—on fixed-term Parliaments, the referendum on the alternative vote, reducing the size of the Commons and the referendum lock on powers to Europe—yet the coalition also pressed ahead with sweeping reforms to public services and getting on top of the deficit.

I know that a number of my colleagues on the Government Benches have objections in principle to what is in the Bill, and I listened to them with respect yesterday. They are likely to register their objections on Second Reading. But if the House gives the Bill a Second Reading, I hope they will respect that decision and the need to make progress with others measures in our programme for the current Session.

I hope that Back Benchers on both sides of the House will see the Bill for what it is: a serious attempt at long last to strengthen Parliament’s ability to hold the Government to account, which will raise the game of the Executive and empower the individual citizen. I commend the Bill to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

There are many of us in the House this evening who believe that reform of the House of Lords is not the most important issue facing our country. With all the problems our country faces, reform of the other place should not be a Government priority. However, the Government have placed a Bill before us and it is our duty to ensure that it is debated properly and thoroughly. That is what we have sought to do.

Over the past two days this House has had a good debate. More than 60 Members have caught your eye, Mr Speaker. Indeed, such has been the demand for speaking time that the length of Members’ speeches has been limited. Some Members have been against change, but many more have made a good case for reform of the other place. I, too, honestly believe that there is a powerful case indeed for democratic reform. That was a commitment that we on the Labour Benches expressed in our general election manifesto, and it is a view to which we still hold firmly.

However, to believe in reform is not to argue in favour of any kind of reform. The details of how the biggest change in our constitution for 100 years will come about are vital. It is all the more important that the details of the Bill, which Members on both sides of the House have seriously questioned, are thoroughly examined. A number of Members have raised their concerns about the primacy of this House. They include, for example, my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell), the hon. Member for Bournemouth West (Conor Burns), whom I commend on his statesmanlike resignation speech, and the hon. Members for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt) and for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), as well as many others. Apart from some Liberal Democrats, few would deny that the primacy of the House of Commons must not be jeopardised, but the Bill, as many Members have pointed out, is woefully inadequate on this crucial issue. Indeed, only yesterday Lord Pannick drove a coach and horses through the Government’s flimsy argument.

Unbelievable though it may seem, the Government seem to believe that referring to the Parliament Acts in the Bill, combined with a large dose of wishful thinking, will be enough. I do not believe that it will be, and there are very few people who share their misplaced optimism. Keeping one’s fingers crossed is not a sound basis on which to embark on Lords reform. As a number of Members have said, the issue is as follows. At present, the primacy of the House of Commons rests on the Parliament Acts, a set of conventions and the fact that the House of Commons, because it is elected, has a legitimacy that is lacked by the House of Lords. The Government have said that the Parliament Acts will remain in force, but also that they believe that the existing conventions will simply continue and that the post-reform relationship will therefore be unproblematic. That view flies in the face of virtually all informed opinion and it defies common sense. Once we have an elected Chamber without clear rules or conventions, it is inevitable that its Members will feel that they have the democratic authority to challenge the House of Commons.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that although there exists a rough set of plans in Lord Steel’s reforms which could command consensus in this House, a consensus for House of Lords reform is being held hostage because of a determination to talk about one aspect, namely elected Lords?

[Wayne David]

It is indeed important to establish a consensus. I will come to that crucial point.

It is also important to have a comprehensive view of how our constitution must change, but the essential point is that the Government’s proposals will, I believe, result in the two Chambers of Parliament being locked in endless conflict, resulting in government grinding to a halt. That is not in the interests of democracy.

Members have raised a wide range of other concerns in this debate. A number expressed concerns about the issue of hybridity. Some have expressed bewilderment at why the Liberal Democrats favour it when they argued for a wholly elected Chamber in their manifesto. However, as a number of Labour Members have pointed out—they include my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty)—we are, after all, talking about the Liberal Democrats, and principle is not one of their strong points. I will make an offer to the Liberal Democrats tonight. I say to them: work with us and we will support you in working for what is in the Liberal Democrat manifesto—a fully elected second Chamber.

Members have expressed concerns today about the voting system, and about the particular kind of proportional representation that is being proposed. The hon. Member for The Cotswolds referred to the weakness of the d’Hondt system. Many Members are also perturbed about the proposed size of the second Chamber, and the proposal for part-time and full-time Members. Then there is the cost. The Government were reluctant to come forward with accurate figures, but we know that reform will not be cheap.

Significantly, a number of Members have already begun to dig down into the details of the Bill. They have expressed their unease about ministerial appointments and about the vagueness of the Government’s intentions. Several Members have also questioned the complex transitional arrangements that would take us from 2015 to 2025, but one of the biggest concerns that Members have expressed relates to the single, non-renewable, 15-year terms. My right hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (David Miliband) made a powerful case in favour of such terms, but other Members made the point that only an accountable system can be fully democratic. It is said that if there is no re-election, there can be no accountability, and the House clearly needs to examine that issue in greater detail.

In the course of this excellent two-day debate, hon. Members have pinpointed with accuracy and passion the wide range of complex and important issues that we, as legislators, have a duty to get right. As we have heard time and again from Members on both sides of the House, a major constitutional change such as this requires a referendum. As we all know, referendums have been held on devolution in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They have also been held on proposals for a Mayor of London and a Greater London assembly. There was a referendum to decide whether there should be an assembly for the north-east of England, and a referendum last year on the alternative vote system. There have been referendums on whether to have mayors in nearly 50 towns and cities, and on whether the Welsh Assembly should have more powers. There was even a referendum in Wales on the opening of pubs on Sundays, yet the Deputy Prime Minister says that there cannot be a referendum on the most important constitutional change in 100 years.

[Ian Swales]

Will the shadow Minister tell us whether there was a referendum on the House of Lords Act 1999?

[Wayne David]

I shall respond to the hon. Gentleman by making two points. First, that was hardly a profound constitutional change. Secondly, the provisions were in our manifesto, and we implemented them.

Let us not forget that the Joint Committee on the draft House of Lords Reform Bill came to a forceful conclusion. The last paragraph of its report states:

“The Committee recommends that, in view of the significance of the constitutional change brought forward for an elected House of Lords, the Government should submit the decision to a referendum.”

That was the unanimous view of the Joint Committee. We heard yesterday that the Deputy Prime Minister had accepted some of the Committee’s recommendations. That is to be welcomed, but we have to question why he did not accept its most powerful recommendation. Surely it cannot be the case that he favours referendums only when it suits him.

The Government have claimed that there is no need for a referendum because Lords reform was in all three party manifestos. It is true that a commitment to Lords reform was in our manifesto, along with a promise to hold a referendum on the matter. It was also in the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto. I respectfully point out—[Interruption.] No doubt the Chancellor has come to say sorry, Mr Speaker. I respectfully ask the Deputy Prime Minister, who has obviously had someone come in to give him advice, to acknowledge that we need consensus. I believe that that is true; we do need consensus for Lords reform. That is said in the Conservative party manifesto, which brings me to my next point.

Important constitutional change can be brought about only through consensus. That was the view of the last Labour Government and it is our view today. Despite repeated offers by us to work with the Government to establish common ground, those overtures have been greeted with a deathly silence. That is a great shame, but it helps explain why this Bill is seen by so many as partisan.

Finally, this has been an interesting and indeed historic couple of days. There is a lack of clarity about where we go from here. I look forward to hearing the Minister provide that clarity, but I say to the House that Labour Members stand ready to be positive and to work effectively for reform of the second House, and I hope that the Government will respond to our positiveness.