House of Lords Bill [HL]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a hereditary Peer, although it is a diminished interest since my son has not so far shown any interest in pursuing me into this House. Nevertheless, I am provoked by my noble friend Lord Higgins to say that the rearguard of hereditaries was retained not to ensure that change came, but to ensure that, when it did come, it did not by one featherweight reduce the power of this House to call the Government to account. That is what we were left here for. Therefore, I have one reservation about this otherwise excellent Bill, which is the proposal to terminate the arrangement that keeps the hereditaries here. Your Lordships may expect that all this will be resolved in a year or two, or perhaps by 2014. Many of your Lordships expected that the law would be resolved five years ago; it has not been. In 1911, many of your Lordships expected that it would be expeditiously resolved. The Bill even had a preamble—the only one that we have ever had to a Bill—stating that the legislation was a temporary measure until a more democratic means of electing a second Chamber was found. Eighty-eight years later, the next step was taken. Therefore, to remove the means of keeping the number of hereditaries significant in this House is premature. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, on an admirable speech and echo his request that we be told who sits on the cross-party working group and that the Government and members of that group take on board the fact that they do not represent the members of their parties in their sentiments. It therefore follows that their work is superfluous and possibly misleading; it should be overtaken by the work of the whole House and the whole of the other place as well. I congratulate, because I actually have time to do it, the noble Lord, Lord Steel, on a tremendous piece of work, helped by many others, and I congratulate every other Peer who has said what I agree with.