Reform of The House of Lords - Other Issues

Other Issues

• At present, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly have devolved powers over areas like Health and Education. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly do not have upper chambers but instead MSPs and AMs scrutinise legislation in committee systems. This means that, for example, legislation on English health and education is subject to the House of Lords, whilst Scottish and possibly Welsh legislation are not.
• There are some concerns that a reformed upper house may be "a feeder body" into the lower house (Charlotte Atkins MP) as has occurred in other countries with bicameral parliaments. Various proposals have been put forward to prevent this happening, including a five-year ban on former members of the Lords seeking election to the Commons. Others are concerned that the upper house may be filled by MPs who lose their seats. Proposals to deal with this problem include lifetime disqualification for membership of the House of Commons as a condition of a place in a reformed upper house.
• The future of peerages. One proposal is that peerages should remain, as part of the honours system, but that they should no longer be linked to membership of the upper house.
• The name. Were the link between peerages and membership of the upper house to end, the name of the upper house might also change as a consequence. The Liberal Democrats, and more recently the Conservatives, have proposed Senate, as in other countries. The Labour government has not put forward any proposed names, instead referring to the "reformed chamber" although the Leader of the House of Commons committee has promised to consult on a final name.
• The loss of an element of independence in the legislative system. Public distrust of politicians in general, and the traditionally high quality of the contribution of hereditary peers to parliamentary business, leads many to regard the loss of the hereditary peers from the system as needless and ironically a retrograde step in democracy.