Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Strathclyde (Conservative). It was answered on Tuesday, 10 February 2009.

House of Lords: Reform

Question: My Lords, is the Minister aware that there can be no possibility of agreement on a future elected House of Lords while the noble Lord, Lord McNally, sticks to his position of a House elected by proportional representation? Can the Minister also confirm that at the last general election all three parties made in their manifestos a commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon treaty but none has so far taken place?

Answer: My Lords, I do not recall the party opposite proposing a referendum on the Maastricht treaty. As far as the noble Lord, Lord McNally, is concerned, the White Paper puts forward a number of options on electoral systems. The working party could not reach agreement on this matter, so we will see what the manifestos say and then discussions will have to take place. What is clear, however, is that there is agreement that the electoral system in general for your Lordships’ House should not be a mirror image of that for the House of Commons.

Secondary information