Lords reform back on the agenda
Monday, 27 Mar 2006 11:32
Lords reform back on the agenda
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Talks aimed at resolving the long-running concern over the way the House of Lords is elected begin today.
The lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, is leading the discussions and has argued that directly elected members should still play a role in the future of the Lords.
He said that the issues of Lords reform had been important to the government long before the recent controversy over party donors who had been shortlisted for peerages.
Speaking on the Today programme, he said: "Personally my view is that there should be a substantial elected element. How it should be elected needs to be discussed.
"We made clear in our manifesto that there should be a free vote on composition and we made clear that the Commons should be the prime house."
Prime minister Tony Blair is said to be keen on completing the process of Lords reform before he steps down as party leader.
And Lord Falconer reinforced those views, saying: "I know that [Mr Blair] is keen to see if it is possible that the reform of the House of Lords can be completed because there is a profound sense of unfinished business."
But the head of the Conservative democracy taskforce, Ken Clarke, believes that most peers should "be appointed by an independent body".
Mr Clarke did add on the same programme, however, that the prime minister should be able to "appoint three or four people because he particularly wants them".
Lords reform has been an ongoing project for the government, the last such reforms taking place in 1999, but the issue has become a much more high profile matter since the recent accusations that leading businessmen were given peerages in exchange for loans to the Labour party.
Labour has strongly denied this and recently made public the names of the 12 businessmen who loaned the party money ahead of the general election last year.
Pressure has grown on the Tories to now do the same.
Today's discussions are expected to lead to a number of possible options being debated and voted upon in the Commons. Under present regulations, all peers either inherit their titles or are directly elected by the government.
