"Change", is what David Cameron pledged all along. Well, you certainly can't accuse him of leaving things as they are.If the Times is to be believed, the House of Lords is set to become the fattest parliamentary chamber in the world.
There are currently 736 sitting Lords, or 707 if you take into account disqualified ones and other exceptions- see here for a full summary.
The coalition government, however, has agreed to appoint up to 172 new peers (77 extra Tories and 95 extra LibDems) in order to "rebalance the upper chamber", which is currently under a Labour majority. According to the Times, "[t]he first wave is expected soon".
This will potentially bring the total to a maximum of 908 peers, nine times the number of the US Senate and thirteen times that of the German Bundestrat.
Luckily the place is generally empty, so at least fitting them all in shouldn't be much of a problem. Costs however, will sore big time.
Officially, the coalition has agreed to reform the House of Lords and increase the number of elected members.
For the time being, however, the Lib/Cons' looming act of political patronage would even tower over anything attempted by Tony Blair. And that says something.
2 comments:
Quick 'n' easy piece of advice for Clegg and Cameron. Just axe the House of Lords. Scrap it. Bin it. That would make things easier, cheaper and more effective.
I thought the official line is a PR elected body, rather like the Senate with longer terms?
Isn't this a wee it of scaremongery?
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