This afternoon, I presented the Speaker of the House of Commons with a Bill that would seek to reduce the number of Members of the House of Lords.
The impact of this single sentence Bill would be immediate and profound. At a single stroke, 40% of the House would retire, reducing its overall number from 813 to 496.
There is broad agreement that the House of Lords is too large, despite reforms to allow for the retirement of peers.
Why am I putting this Bill forward? It is true that no one ever raises constitutional reform of the House of Lords on the doorstep. But if we managed our politics on the basis of what is raised on the doorstep most legislation would focus on bin collections, neighbour disputes and potholes. And, actually, people do raise this on the doorstep. Not in a direct way, but within the wider sense that our politics isn’t working, that politics is out of touch. It shows itself in public anger about the cost of the attendance allowance. It feeds into the feeling that the system, that the political process, is broken.
So how can we tackle the worst aspects of the current system without getting bogged down in legislative delay? My answer is simple: bring the House of Lords in line with the senior judiciary and Bishops Spiritual and say goodbye at 75.
