Parliamentary Reform

Background – Motivation/The need for reform?

• Blair/Brown – By 97 reform of the HOL was overdue – no longer acceptable in modern democracy for part of legislature to be based on hereditary peerages
• Labour = afraid its legislative programme might be obstructed by a Conservative 2^ndchamber
• Labour had a massive majority and could push the reforms through
• Even after Blair’s reforms (removal of all but 92 hereditary Peers in 2000 under the House of Lords Act 1999) – still further demand for reform especially after the loans for lordship’s scandal in 2006
• HOC vote in March 2007  = overwhelming majority for elected 2^ndchamber (Hansard = DC voted against it)
• Now a good degree of cross party consensus about reform
• Coalition Govt: – Under new coalition – both Lib Dems and Conservatives = under represented in HOL – only way to rectify is to create more new life peerages – but this = ‘considered politically toxic’ and has been ruled out
• In Conservative mainfesto = “mainly elected” HoL wheras Lib Dems = “wholly elected” second chamber
• June 2010 – at PMQs DC announced that HoL reform was to proceed and that a draft motion would be put before the HoC before the end of the year

Reforms

• HOL –  after tricky negotiations with the Conservatives  (had majority in HoL) – number of hereditary peers was reduced from several hundred to 92 (elected by the other HPs)
• This was implemented by the House of Lords Act 1999 – removed automatic conservative majority in HoL
• This was supposed to be the start of a process – the tricky part was then to determine the best composition for the new chamber in the long term
• Despite various initiatives and white papers, this issue remains unresolved
• Parliamentary vote 2003 – proposals were effectively rejected
• Historic vote in March 2007 – HoC voted for fully elected HoL by a majority of 113 (but the vote= only advisoryin nature- not implemented due to lengthy consultation process/general election
• The coalition Govt agreement have indicated desire for a wholly/mainly elected 2^nd chamber – elected on the basis of PR
• These proposals = debated 29.6.2010
• As an interim measure, appointment of new peers will reflect shares of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election
• June 2010 – at PMQs DC announced that HoL reform was to proceed and that a motion would be put before the HoC before the end of the year
• HOC – Reforms have been piecemeal and largely superficial
• Some strengthening of departmental select committees and tinkering with working hours and PMQs
• Gordon Brown did propose a more radical shift in the balance of power away from the PM and Govt. towards the HOC – but this = difficult – changes = not implemented
• Attention = shifted to reform of pay and expenses system following the MPs expenses scandals in 2009 [following which Labour MPs Elliot Morley, Jim Devine , David Chaytor are being taken to court]
• A new system = introduced whereby the issue of expenses and MPs pay = placed in the hands of an independent commission
• The 2009 scandal = seriously damaged reputation of the HoC [note: two Labour Peers and a cross bencher – Lord Paul , Baroness Uddin and Lord Bhatia are also being taken to court for expenses issues)
• However, despite the impact at the time – these measures = little long term impact and therefore cannot be seen as a major parliamentary reform

How successful has it been? – Praise/criticisms

• This removed the automatic Conservative majority in the HOL
• It enhanced Democratic Legitimacy
• Criticised that only ‘phase 1’ has been implemented – need for further reform
• HoC reforms = piecemeal
• Lack of substantive Parliamentary reform = seen as “major hole” in Blair reforms [Heywood]

Future

• Coalition introduced fixed-term Parliaments of 5 years in September 2011. Fixed-term Parliaments mean that Prime Ministers no longer have the power to call a General Election when they want, so the party in power cannot choose a date that would give the party an advantage in elections, eg because opinion polls are in their favour.
• The proposals for HofL reform are currently being discussed by a joint committee of MPs and peers.
• The two coalition parties agreed to hold a referendum on whether the UK should change from the first-past-the-post system to the alternative vote (AV) system for general elections. After weeks of parliamentary battles, a law was passed allowing the referendum to take place in May 2011. It did, and voters opted overwhelmingly to retain the old system.
• In an effort to beef up the select committees, which scrutinise government departments, the government promised to implement the Wright committee’s recommendation that they should be nominate and elected by MPs. The first elections took place in June 2010 – the month after the coalition was formed.