House of Lords (Members’ Taxation Status) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am glad to hear that the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, takes these matters so seriously. Once again today the Liberal Democrats have raised the salience of Lords reform. I remind noble Lords that this is one of my favourite subjects; I have spoken on this subject probably more than any other Member currently, and I am looking forward to continuing to do so. We have not had an opportunity for quite some time, so it is tremendous to be able to dust down the old files and make another speech on the subject. When the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, started, I thought he was going to make a rather more interesting point about the state of the economy, taxation, debt and trying to make this country a more attractive place for people and businesses to come and base themselves here—an issue that really would have an impact beyond this House. Sadly, I was disappointed. Many will have no quarrel with this Groundhog Day. The noble Lord should be under no illusions that if he starts to legislate to exclude certain Peers from this House, some will question why others should sit here at all. The noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, talked about the absurdities of this House. The noble Lord was quoted in the Times some years ago saying, ““You couldn’t elect better Lords than me””, so perhaps that is an absurdity we should start off with.