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House of Lords Bill [HL]

My Lords, in 1999 we were promised that a full and final reform of this House would eventually happen. This is a grave constitutional matter unsuitable for a Private Member's Bill, particularly one introduced on a Friday afternoon, when many of your Lordships have gone home for the weekend. It should be resolved by a Government Bill introduced in prime time, the contents of which should have been arrived at, if possible, by all-party consensus. If it is not done in such a manner, what guarantee have we, should it pass, that it will be accepted by the Government, by the opposition parties and the country as stage two of the reform which was started in 1999? For that reason alone, I am totally opposed to the Bill. Even Part 1, which could have created an appointments commission which would have been truly independent of prime ministerial patronage, signally fails to do so. Why should the Speaker of another place have anything to do with it? Only four members have to be privy counsellors. I suggest that the appointments commission should be a committee of the Privy Council, the majority of the members being also Members of this House; then they might know something about what they were doing. So far as I am concerned, Part 2 is not acceptable, and here I have an interest to declare as an hereditary Peer. The 92 hereditary Peers were supposed to remain here until stage two of House of Lords reform had been completed. The noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, has reminded us of the undertaking given in 1999 by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Irvine of Lairg. The noble and learned Lord went on to say: "““The 10 per cent will go when stage two has taken place and their presence is a guarantee that stage two will take place””.—[Official Report, 11/5/99; col. 1092.]" That was confirmed by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, only last March, when he said: "““The noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, reminded us that we agreed to the keeping of the hereditaries until stage 2 was in place. We agreed that in the White Paper and stand by it””.—[Official Report, 13/3/07; col. 722.]" Now, as I said, what guarantee have we that, if the Bill were to receive Royal Assent, the Government, who I believe are neutral regarding it, would be satisfied that the reforms embodied in it constituted stage two? Absolutely none, my Lords. In that case we, the hereditary Peers, would no longer be here as such to annoy the Government like a cloud of midges and to torment them by our very existence—an existence that they had a manifesto commitment to get rid of. Much is continually said about the ludicrousness of the Peers’ elections. That is something that I do not deny, but the principal thing that is ludicrous about them is that the electorate consists only of the hereditary Peers so that, in the case of Labour and Liberal Democrat elections, just one or two Peers vote for a whole list of candidates. That would be simply remedied by making the electorate all the Peers in the relevant party or the entire House, which, with hindsight, is what I now believe should always have been the case. However, for any of us hereditary Peers to be party to abolishing the elections sticks in my gullet. It is tantamount to turning round and saying, ““I’m alright Jack, and to hell with you!””, to our erstwhile colleagues, who were so meanly and ungraciously sacked in 1999 and whose only hope of either getting back themselves or their heirs doing so is to be elected. I think that Part 3, Clause 12, is mean and short-sighted and that it will deprive the House of a lot of experience and expertise. Turning to Part 4, it is a pity to be so sanctimonious about Peers who have served jail sentences. As the noble Earl, Lord Ferrers, said, they have paid their forfeit and should be allowed back into the game. In any case, this is not a matter for primary legislation. I believe the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, will say a word about that. Altogether, I think that this is a dreadful Bill and I shall join others in attempting to amend it at a later stage. As it is, I hope that I do not have to leave for the airport before the winding-up speeches are finished.