An end to the House of Lords in the UK?
The analysis on the University of Puget Sound Politics and Government blog is well worth the time. It was posted by Patrick O'Neil, but written by his colleague Don Share, who is presently in London.Farewell to Lords?
"Farewell to the Lords was Thursday’s headline in the Times of London, as the lower house of Parliament voted to alter fundamentally the composition of the House of Lords, the UK’s largely perfunctory upper house. This week’s advisory vote instructed the government to draw up legislation to make the upper house an entirely elected body (at present the body contains mostly appointed members)...
"The size of the majority (337-224) makes it virtually certain that legislation on Lords reform will pass relatively soon, especially since the measure was supported by members of all parties...
"In the UK simple majorities in the lower house can carry out major constitutional changes with relatively few checks. However, many fear that the creation of an elected upper house may actually endanger the House of Commons’ supremacy within the UK political system."
Labels: change, democratization, politics, UK
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:11 PM
1 Comments:
From the New York Times:
Britain Wonders if More Elections Equal More Democracy
"THE members of the House of Lords, that august assembly of scarlet-robed and mainly appointed peers which forms the upper chamber of Britain's democracy, voted last week to stand firm against pressure to become fully elected... more elections may not necessarily mean more democracy...
"The battle now is between nonelected independence and electoral legitimacy...
"'The promise of democratic legitimacy is a sham,' wrote Bruce Ackerman, a professor of law and political science at Yale, in The London Review of Books. 'The bar on re-election strips voters of their basic tool for democratic accountability: the politicians’ fear that their constituents will throw them out of office.' Or, as one Labor legislator, Tom Levitt, said in the House of Commons, 'it’s not the election that makes democracy, it’s the re-election.'
"Not only that, the government is proposing that candidates for the Lords be drawn from party lists, extending the power of political parties to reward loyalty and curb dissent...
"The House of Lords has always been a font of patronage. Almost by definition, the peers owed their elevated positions to the largess of their monarch and their ability to raise taxes and armies in return. Indeed, Bob Marshall-Andrews, a Labor legislator opposed to the proposed changes, told Parliament: 'The true curse of the British political system is patronage.'..."
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