Tuesday, 15 Jul 2008 13:33
Unlock Democracy: Lords 'wholly illegitimate'
Tuesday, 15, Jul 2008 12:00
Commenting on the government's House of Lords white paper, director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said:
"While we would of course like the pace of reform to be speedier, we welcome this white paper as yet another nail in the coffin of the existing, largely unreformed and wholly illegitimate second chamber.
"Most of the old roadblocks to reform concerning the second chamber's role and powers have now been resolved. All that we now lack is the political will to press ahead.
"Unlock Democracy will be playing a full part in the debate this latest paper is intended to spark. We will be arguing for a smaller second chamber of around 300 members, fully elected using either the single transferable vote system or fully open lists as these systems allow voters the greatest choice of both parties and candidates.
"We welcome the White Paper's modeling, which clearly demonstrate quite how indefensible proposals for a second chamber using the anachronistic first past the post system really are."