House of Lords Bill [HL]

My Lords, until the appearance of this admirable Bill, I had reached the reluctant conclusion that my first preference among the current options for reform of the Lords was for no more White Papers, no more parliamentary Statements and no more working groups. I thought that it was time for a moratorium for at least five years. The latest phase of reform started 10 years ago. We have had many hours of debate in the House and in the Commons, and there is a huge bibliography of books, articles and research documents. From the beginning, we had Modernising Parliament – Reforming the House of Lords in 1999, The House of Lords – Completing the Reform in 2001, Next Steps for the House of Lords in 2003, then simply The House of Lords: Reform in February 2007, and yesterday’s Statement, which might yet be called The Way Ahead. I am reminded of books by Richmal Crompton, which I greatly enjoyed in my childhood: Just William, More William, William Again, and 35 other similar titles. Documents on Lords reform have been quite like that. Since the royal commission’s report of 2000, we have had two general elections that have brought in more than 200 new Members of Parliament and as many new Peers, some of whom are speaking in today’s debate. A whole new political generation has arrived, and the familiar issues are coming full circle. In 1999, as we all know so well, the number of hereditary Peers was reduced from 700 to 92, and we currently have rough parity in 215 Labour Peers and 204 Conservative Peers. We also have 77 Liberal Democrats, which is not enough but is more than 10 years ago. We also have a non-statutory appointments body, which has done excellent work in sending first-rate new Members to the Cross Benches. The Prime Minister’s Statement of three weeks ago and the bulk of the White Paper, The Governance of Britain, especially on the powers of the Executive, are more relevant to running the country effectively than are the few paragraphs on the reform of the Lords, yesterday’s promise of never-ending cross-party discussions and the Government’s remodelling of our work under the Secretary of State for Justice. Almost every Member of your Lordships’ House has a personal agenda for reform: of the size of the House, the name, the number, the future of the bishops, remuneration, composition, and, if there are to be elections, by what method. Some Members of the House and, it seems, the Government, say, ““All or nothing””, where ““all”” means an elected or partially elected House. However, the limited objectives of the Bill are not inconsistent with comprehensive reform. It closes no options. I support it on merit, as a step in the right direction, and as the last best chance before my preference for a moratorium.