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House of Lords: Reform

My Lords, I shall be mercifully brief. My speech can be classified more as a question. The noble Baroness, Lady Symons, made an outstanding speech and she effectively demolished the case for hybridity in the reform of your Lordships’ House. She correctly stated that the choice was between a fully elected Chamber and a fully appointed Chamber. The other place voted for a fully elected Chamber and we have been told by the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor that we must take that vote seriously; and I am sure that he is right. So I, at least, hear the early turnings of the tumbrel wheels for this House and the noble Lord, Lord Low, said he rather regretted that his brief stay might be snuffed out. The noble Lord, Lord Gordon, wistfully told us that he felt the boot of history on his posterior. What I want to ask the Lord Chancellor is: how is that boot to be applied? Will the 743 Members of this House be removed in a ““big bang”” piece of legislation, which would presumably have to be enforced by the Parliament Act, given all the speeches today? Several Peers have indicated that there would be some difficulty in using the Parliament in that sort of legislation. The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, mentioned that in his speech. Or will the change happen by more of an ““Eric””— a ““little-by-little””—approach; a sort of incremental, natural wastage approach? That may take a long time, given that younger and younger Members come here. Or will there be—let us not call it a bribe—a golden goodbye or a sort of bung if noble Lords agree to go quietly at some point in the future? Or will there be some other method? I do not know. It could be any random method of first in, last out or last in, first out. The Government must have had an options paper on this sort of procedure. Assuming that there will be a Bill, how will the Government present it to the House? How will they get rid of the existing life Peers and hereditary Peers? How will it happen? That is what I should like to hear from the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor when he replies to the debate. If the tumbrels are rolling, when are they going to get here and who will be in them?