Abolition for the House of Lords
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 11:17, Wed 25 April 2012:
I am not in favour of the House of Lords and would vote for its abolition. I believe in a ‘one chamber’ Parliament with power residing in the House of Commons which is, as you know, fully elected. There is, however, one scenario where I do believe that there is an argument for a second chamber.
In the Federal Republic of Germany there is a two chamber system. The Bundestag is the Lower House which is elected by a mixed system of ‘first past the post’ and ‘proportional representation’ and the Upper House, the Bundesrat, consists of members who are nominated by the different Lander in proportion to the size of the population in that particular state.
Britain does not have a fully-fledged federal system of Government but there are Parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who have varying powers and if there were to be an English Parliament as well then I believe that there is a case for each of those four regional Parliaments to appoint representatives in an Upper House in order to, as is the case in Germany, protect the interests of those devolved Parliaments. The Bundesrat in Germany has a clearly defined set of powers but the Lower House, Bundestag, is still the predominant chamber.
As I have said were Britain to move towards a federal system with each of the four countries of the United Kingdom having their own Parliament then I can see an argument for having a similar system involving a second chamber but under the current system we have I can see no justification for having a second chamber.
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Posted by Mohammed Hemraj, 12:12, Thu 26 April 2012: (Is this post abusive?) #
Personally I am very much in favour of retaining the House of Lords provided the members nominated come from diverse groups - be it religious, ethnic or professional background. I also favour members being nominated, rather than elected, based on cost. I regularly watch the debate on TV, it does need to be improved based on the present House of Commons format which will make it more orderly based on a speaker (Chairperson) deciding on which issues can be deliberated, who can speak and for how long. Long live the House of Lords.