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Honours System (Reform)

: Legally, such people do not get a title; they get an honorific. The title of the wife of a knight or baronet—or, indeed, of a peer—is not legal; it is honorary. The fact that the husband of somebody who is honoured does not get a title is merely a matter of custom in this country. However, even if that were not the case, I would not see any need to fiddle around with this matter—it would be fiddling for no purpose. I have a brief final point to make about the spread of honours. There is a metropolitan bias in the distribution of honours, and the further up the honours tree we go, the greater the bias becomes. I do not wish to delve too deeply into peerages, because reform of the House of Lords is not a matter for this debate. However, it is of concern to me that almost half the peerages—it might be more—granted since 1997 have gone to people who live in London. That is an extraordinary, ridiculous and unjustifiable bias. I believe that the figure might be 40 per cent., but the fact that those people are involved in the legislature makes this an even worse bias. Sadly, it is reflected in the higher levels of honours throughout the system. That shows the failure of the establishment to co-opt people in other regions as successfully as it does people in the south-east. I wish it would make an effort in that regard, and encouraging nominations is the best way to do it.