House of Lords Reform

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. He need not worry, because I will get ...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate and apologise for being unable to stay for ...

I could not agree more. The way that operates within this Parliament is pernicious.

Sadly, ...

May I ask the hon. Gentleman, and his colleagues, whether he would like to have a member of the S...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for a good laugh, but the answer is no.

As per conventi...

The hon. Gentleman is delivering a great deal of passion in his speech; it is just a pity that hi...

Democracy is never a low priority in the Scottish National party. That is why the people and comm...

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is little democracy in the fact that those who have been rej...

I could not disagree with my hon. Friend on that very important matter.

The upper Chamber a...

It is not simply a matter of vanity. In 2005, as I am sure Members are aware, the Scottish Nation...

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. For as long as I am the Member for West Dunbartonshire and...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on what has so far been a very colourful speech. He has been ve...

We do not have a separate jurisdiction.

My very hon. Friend has given the answer from a sedentary position: Wales does not have a separat...

May I inform the hon. Gentleman that there are some English people—I am English from generations ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I do, of course, count Cornwall in the Celtic fringe.

...

I am delighted to join the Chamber to hear my hon. Friend’s speech at such late notice. Does he a...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his interjection. He raises an important point. I am grateful...

Order. There are nine Members who wish to catch my eye before 4.30 pm, which is when I want to br...

I congratulate the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin John Docherty) on securing this de...

My hon. Friend is an extremely assiduous constituency MP and I suspect he spends most of his week...

My hon. Friend is right. I cannot recall anyone on the doorstep raising this particular issue, ev...

As a practising Christian, I must say that I am not comfortable with defining any nation as a Chr...

It is certainly true that there are now fewer practising Christians throughout the UK than there ...

The hon. Gentleman may have noticed that, in the last census, some 31% of the population said tha...

Humanism has always seemed to me to be the absence of faith. We could debate the hon. Gentleman’s...

Although the Scottish Parliament has one Chamber, it has a very strong committee system. It is no...

In essence, however, it is fair to say that Scotland is becoming almost a unicameral nation.

I am very pleased that my hon. Friend has raised the issue of experts. If the public think about ...

I certainly agree that, if we are to continue with an appointed or predominantly appointed House,...

I seem to remember that under the proposed legislation that was introduced in the last Parliament...

I agree. I was not happy with that part of the proposals.

I am an advocate of first past th...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, and I will start by reading an amendment that was moved...

A small clique in Downing Street gets to determine who sits in the Lords. Does the hon. Gentleman...

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point, and I think that it is fundamentally unfair and that we ...

I am noting the hon. Gentleman’s comments on appointees, and such appointments are ultimately mad...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, and we must move to democracy. That means that the he...

I support the idea of UKIP having a Member of the House of Lords. It is rather sad that there is ...

I will let the hon. Member for Clacton (Mr Carswell) speak for himself on that one. My own view i...

The hon. Gentleman talks about expertise. It would be possible to have an advisory body of expert...

Indeed. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. There are a number of things we could do and that...

The hon. Gentleman makes many trenchant criticisms of the other place, a number of which I agree ...

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, but that does not mean you do not need a new clock.

I congratulate the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin John Docherty) on securing a debat...

I hear what the hon. Lady says about the Acts of Union in 1536 and 1542, but what on earth does t...

Most of the laws made here also affect Wales, and if we are to influence them, we must take part....

I am listening intently and enjoying this debate a great deal, because I agree with so much of it...

Were we to legislate for such a thing, we would need to consider that in detail, but we ought to ...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which I greatly welcome. I particularly enjoyed the spe...

I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman recalls that, last time there was a major review of the ...

I do not wish to mention particular examples, because there are still hon. Members here who may o...

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin John Docherty) for sec...

I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman is new to the House. I have been here for five years now and...

This point was made earlier on. Although many other issues do come up and this is far from being ...

When I first wandered into the Chamber today, I thought I had come into the wrong debate, because...

I agree very much with what the hon. Lady is saying. The hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarte...

I absolutely agree with what the hon. Gentleman has just said. When people talk to us on the door...

Does my hon. Friend share my disappointment that this Government, who made their one MP from Scot...

Indeed, I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I wish to add my disappointment at the fact t...

Does my hon. Friend agree that if God were a Scotsman, he still would not want a place in the Hou...

Absolutely. We have in the Lords cronies, party donors, party-placed men and women—although there...

In his book “The Point of Departure”, the late Member of Parliament for Livingston recalled an in...

As I have said, we are becoming a laughing stock all over the world.

In addition—and this i...

When the first automobile engines were developed, they were dirty, unreliable and inefficient, bu...

I commend the Backbench Business Committee for making time for this debate and congratulate my ho...

Order. The hon. Gentleman should know that as far as I am concerned, anything said by Robert Burn...

I am very grateful indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker, not least because I intend to quote the bard lat...

I agree with what the hon. Gentleman has said. In my speech I mentioned Sweden, which has abolish...

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point. Imagine that this Parliament had historically consisted o...

I am delighted to speak on behalf of the SNP in this Backbench Business debate on the House of Lo...

The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech. As she knows from mine, I share her ambition to do awa...

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, which I am sure will be discussed at length during...

Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be beneficial to introduce some of the European Parliamen...

I would be delighted if the House of Commons had the ability to sack the entire House of Lords. I...

I just remind the hon. Lady and her colleagues that this Chamber has the power to sack the Govern...

I am coming to the end of my speech, so I will now wrap up. The power of the House of Lords is dr...

I genuinely congratulate the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin John Docherty) on openin...

Clearly we have a difference of view on this. My hon. Friend says that there has not been enough ...

I respect my hon. Friend’s view. That is one of the discussions that we need to have in this Cham...

I add my congratulations to the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin John Docherty) on sec...

The House of Lords!

Many of them are in the House of Lords. They are reduced to a small number of MPs, and none of th...

The Minister talks about making the House of Lords more democratic, which is second-best to aboli...

If I can ask the hon. Gentleman to hold his horses, I hope to come back to that later. I am sure ...

Just to clarify that point, the view of the SNP and the Scottish Government was that, had we won ...

That is very helpful in clarifying the SNP’s view and it leads me to talk about opportunities for...

I agree with the Minister. Do we not need to learn the lesson that, if any good fundamental refor...

I would broaden out that point. It is hugely helpful, although not essential, for any constitutio...

Will the Minister agree that part of the difficulty in arriving at a consensus is the many vested...

That is one of the principles that underlie the support of the many people who are in favour of a...

I hope the Minister is not saying that because it is so difficult, we should not do it. As the ho...

The hon. Lady made a series of powerful points, many of which I agreed with, but on that particul...

I thank the Minister for participating in the debate, and I thank the hon. Member for Caerphilly ...

Will the hon. Gentleman clarify his point about former MPs? Would he draw any distinction between...

No.

Members of the House of Lords should be automatically forced to retire by the age of 80...