Lords Reform - oh dear

The revelation of the latest plans for reform of the Lords have thrown up one of the more absurd political ideas I have heard for some time. The whole point of an elected second chamber is to make it accountable. The notion that future peers should be elected for fifteen years and not be eligible for re-election clearly emininates all pretence at accountability.It is therefore utterly pointless.

As it happens this is unlikely to matter because all the signs are that any attempt at Lords reform is doomed to failure. The traditional coalition of right wing conservatives, Labour members who take a radical view and therefore reject all moderate solutions, and peers who are either naturally antipathetic to reform, or who see themselves as turkeys approaching Christmas, will defeat virtually any proposals. Mmmm. lost electoral reform and lost Lords reform looks pretty grim for the Liberal Democrats.

Supporters of Lords reform will, I think, now have to rely on Labour putting very specific proposals in their next election manifesto. If elected they can then force through the measure by invoking either the Salisbury Convention (the tradition that the Lords will not obstruct any proposal contained in the Government's last election manifesto) or the Parliament Act (which says that a proposal passed in two consecutive years in the Commons cannot be overturned in the Lords). Of course Labour has to be elected for the plan to work !

If I hear news just once more of a committee to consider Lords reform I shall tear my hair out. How many inquiries do we need, for Pete's sake ? All the facts and arguments are now known. Time for action or let's just give up on it altogether.