Interim Libservative plans for House of Lords are an undemocratic stitch up

I failed to spot the following Guardian article when published last week. It is certainly a worrying move:

Coalition deal 'to bring 172 peers'

The coalition agreement between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats could result in the parties appointing more than 100 new peers, despite being committed to a largely or fully-elected upper house, it is reported.

The agreement, published last Wednesday, states that a committee will be set up to come forward with draft motions by December to create a reformed upper house elected by proportional representation.

In the interim, the document states that "Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second chamber reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election".

With Labour currently represented by 211 peers, on a strict mathematical calculation, this would imply an increase from 186 to 263 in Tory numbers in the House of Lords and a boost in Lib Dem places from 72 to 167 - a total of 172 new peers.

This is a blatant attempt to ensure the government can push all of their legislation through without facing opposition. The Libservatives claim to be introducing us to the "new politics" when in fact this is the worst kind of example of the grubby old politics.

By awarding Tories and Lib Dems many more peerages it will not reflect the will of the UK electorate. For a start there are 208 crossbenchers and 26 Lords Spiritual there is a chance many of these peers could be classed as being on the right of the political spectrum, particularly when it comes to issues on equalities.

If they really believe in political reform they should make reform of the House of Lords a priority and bring us an elected second chamber as soon as possible, rather than rushing to cram the Lords with political allies.

Stop making futile gestures

Once again it is reported in the news that the governmenmt are to start tinkering around with the minutiae of House of Lords legislation, by allowing life peers to resign and removing the right to heredity peerages.

If the government is serious about electoral reform, it should carry out the only acceptable solution by emptying the House of Lords and making it into a fully elected second chamber, based on proportional representation. Only with these moves will we have a democratic legislative, rather than the farcical affair we have at the moment, with a chamber full of unelected, unaccountable peers.

Of course Labour will not do this. The status quo benefits both main parties with a selection of nodding dogs willing to approve most of the legislation passed to it.