Credit Where It's Due......

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44230595
Good to see that Jezza wants to scrap the lords. Out dated pompous popinjays deserve to be kicked out on their ears and replaced by an elected upper chamber of no more than 100. What say you?

[cassa333]

After many years supporting them I have come round to getting rid of the Lords.

Not sure how many turkeys will vote for Christmas or in this case Lords voting to abolish the Lords!!!

[ToraToraTora]

thats what the parliament act is for cassa

[jim360]

This was "Credit where it's Due Part 4", and I'm disappointed that you didn't call it that :P

[Gromit]

Meanwhile desperate May has given 10 ex-Ministers Peerages, adding to the already over populated Retirement Home.

[ToraToraTora]

yep, and Jezza has kicked a few upstairs too!

[jim360]

Before the latest nominations, there have been 17 party-affliated life peers nominated since 2016. Theresa May has chosen 16 of those. So maybe it's worth extending the credit due to Corbyn in that regard? :)

[gulliver1]

Nice to know that someone on here, is at last getting some satisfaction for becoming a member of the Labour Party , after all it did cost £3 to join. { well done leftie}.

[jim360]

I was just looking back through previous AB posts and was pleased to see that you've basically stuck to this line for ages. Reason I mention is because a lot of people seem lately to have latched on to the idea of Lords Reform only since they seem to have become an impediment to Brexit, which I would argue is a rather cynical reason to scrap the Lords. Especially so when you consider that the last meaningful attempt at Lords reform was launched in 2012 by the pro-EU Lib Dems, and squashed in 2012 by the Tories, including the Eurosceptic wing (as exemplified by David Davis and Jacob Rees-Mogg).

I could swear I've noted this in the past, although perhaps that was a different vote featuring those two voting against. At any rate, it's important to support Lords reform on principle, rather than because they are "blocking" you on a particular policy (and, anyway, they haven't blocked anything yet).

[ToraToraTora]

yes jim, I have been consistently anti the lords since long before brexit. In my opinion we should not have an un elected house interfering with the elected government.

[jim360]

As an aside, this fits into my general theory that a large part of the reason many people voted for Brexit is less to do with the EU itself, and more because of a general dissatisfaction with democracy in this country. I *think* I've said this before, so won't go on about it too long, but, although I really wish we weren't leaving the EU, I hope it will be taken as an opportunity for large-scale reform of how we do things democratically. A proper two-chamber system, reform of the electoral process itself, local councils that we actually vote for because of what they do, rather than as a quasi-referendum on Westminster, etc.

[youngmafbog]

Worryingly I see myself agreeing more and more with Jezza!

[jim360]

Oh crap, that means we're due for the End Times any day now...

[youngmafbog]

Sorry :-(

[jim360]

You should be, I have to wait until next year for Game of Thrones Season 8 and the next Avengers movie, don't want to miss those...

[jim360]

Better to say that after it *has* been eradicated, surely? At the moment, it's all talk.

Mind you, I don't think the Lords works badly in *practice*, and more often than not it does its job as an amending chamber very well. When pushing for a second, elected, house, questions about what its role will be, and how it interacts with the lower house, becomes very important and would also need to be addressed.

[Deskdiary]

This is nothing new.

I still have an extended essay I did in 1989 when I was 18 in the sixth form the crux of which was that the Lords, which at the time was still largely populated by hereditary peers, should be overhauled by having no ex-MPs, no Lords Spiritual (I'm still at a loss why peddlers of fairy tales should be there) and should be solely occupied by people of merit drawn from commerce.

The Lords still has a place, but it should not be about toeing the party line.