Goals of The Report
The intention of the report was to create a second chamber that would be an effective check on government power, while simultaneously making it more accountable to the electorate. At present, the Prime Minister recommends the appointment of life peers, Law Lords and Bishops; this means, effectively, that the Prime Minister and the governing party have great influence over the House of Lords, and it can be used as a source of political patronage. (This has recently become a more significant issue, owing to the Cash for Peerages scandal.) An independent Honours and Appointments Commission would solve this problem, and would create a peerage that was less dependent on partisan influence.
The House is often also criticised because no part of it is directly accountable to the electorate; no peers stand for election, and there is no normal procedure for removing peers. Adding some elected members, and limiting members' terms in office, might ameliorate this problem.
Read more about this topic: Wakeham Report
Famous quotes containing the words goals and/or report:
“I think that any woman who sets goals for herself and takes her own life seriously and moves to achieve the goals that she wants as a person in her own right is a feminist.”
—Frances Kuehn (b. 1943)
“The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the courage to exercise the responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought processes.”
—Jane Jarrell Smith, U.S. widow of American astronaut Michael J. Smith. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 13 (June 30, 1986)