CEP: Lords is 'bulwark of resistance'

Tuesday, 15, Jul 2008 12:00

Commenting on the government's House of Lords white paper a Campaign for an Ebglish Parliament spokesperson said:

"We have already witnessed botched attempts to reform the Lords. For one thing, the Lords is an absolutely necessary second chamber. It has become the bulwark of resistance to an over-powerful and overweening government executive which in these days of a supine and self-serving Commons membership needs to be restrained.

"The House of Lords has forced rethinks and has stopped undemocratic measures getting on the statute book. Any reform must retain its ability to do just that.

"Therefore any reform must be proposed, not by any government of the day, but by an independent commission. It must not be hurried.

"The House of Lords is an essentially English creation which in a very English way has adapted and changed as succeeding centuries have required. It is very noticeable that the new Scottish system of government, devised and voted for by the Scots themselves, does not have a second chamber. The English govern themselves differently."