Appointments to the House of Lords
According to the BBC’s James Landale, a cross-party group of peers have cautioned the PM not to make any more appointments to the House of Lords. The caution comes in a report from UCL’s Constitution Unit that says that the PM’s creation of 117 peers within the last year has had a “negative impact” upon the culture of the upper chamber. Readers of the blog who followed the filibustering and threatened guillotine during the passage of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 might be minded to agree.
“A committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is expected to publish a draft bill on proposed reform of the Lords in the next few months but any changes agreed are unlikely to come into effect for some time.” Well that’s OK then !!
They have legislated to reduce the size of the House of Commons but go on increasing the size of the House of Lords. This is the kind of mess which arises because of piecemeal tinkering with the constitution. Changes are made without full analysis of the consequences. More worryingly, the whole appearance is that the politicians think that the constitution belongs to them and not to the people.