House of Lords Bill [HL]

My Lords, the wish to open the Pandora’s box of Lords reform is a mystery to me. There is no public demand for it, and the resulting confusion, ill will and acrimony will in no way match any benefit. As has been said today, this House performs perfectly well as it is at present. The House of Commons should also take care; as Gilbert and Sullivan said, with a House of Peers composed exclusively of people of intellect, what is to become of the House of Commons? I am concerned about vacancies among the hereditary Peers not being filled. This would involve reneging on the firm agreement made by the Lord Chancellor, who said that it was, "““binding in honour on all those who have come to give it their assent””.—[Official Report, 30/3/99; col. 207.]" Slow progress makes it no less dishonourable to resile from an agreement. If your Lordships did wish to alter the hereditary element in this House, I have an alternative suggestion which your Lordships might like to consider. As with the football league, a league of Peers could be created, with a number of divisions along the lines of current divisions of barons and earls, and so on. Performance would be assessed at the end of each Parliament, and those at the top and bottom of each division would be promoted or demoted as appropriate. So, for example, the best performing barons would move up to viscounts, and the worst performing viscounts would be demoted to barons, and so on and so forth. There might be difficulty with marquesses and dukes, but that is quite appropriate; after all, as the premier division is more desirable, it should be more difficult to get into. If so desired, sophistication could be added. For example, the expenses that we claim could be adjusted in line with the divisions, so the weightier the coronet, the greater the expenses. Another possibility would be for the bottom-performing life Peers to have their peerages removed and made available to the Labour Party for suitable recycling. I hope that your Lordships will find this idea just as helpful as that of the noble Lord, Lord Steel, and that the honour and integrity of this House will be preserved.