MPs call for Lords ban on convicted peers
Tuesday, 13 June 2006 12:00 AM
Almost 30 MPs have signed a motion calling for convicted criminals to be barred from the House of Lords as they are from the Commons.
An early day motion put by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb has attracted 29 signatures since it was first put forward three weeks ago.
It was prompted by the recent release from prison of Lord Watson, the Labour MSP jailed last September for arson after setting fire to the curtains at an Edinburgh hotel.
His conviction means he was automatically barred from the Scottish parliament, but he has indicated that he would like to return to politics in the House of Lords.
However, the motion calls for future reforms to "include the status of members of the upper House who have been convicted in a court of law and that the same rules that apply to honourable members in such circumstances should apply to members of the upper House".
It would also bar Lord Archer, who was ejected from the House in 2000 after being jailed for perjury in a libel case. He is interested in returning to the Lords, but Conservative leader David Cameron has said there is no question of his receiving the whip.
One of those who has signed the early day motion, Labour MP for Reading West Martin Salter, insisted that criminals must not be able to make Britain's laws.
"It seems ludicrous that while a member of the House of Commons loses their seat if they are sent to prison, members of the House of Lords can continue to vote and pass laws despite having served time themselves," he said.
"This seems to be a case of utter hypocrisy and I hope that the government will take the need for reform of this law very seriously and end this double standard between the two houses of parliament."
Supporters of the motion hope the change could come in when the government completes the next stage of Lords reform, which is likely to confirm the way the chamber is composed in future.
The recent loans-for-peerages row revealed the flaws in a fully appointed chamber and today leader of the Commons Jack Straw confirmed that a vote on composition could be expected at the end of the year.
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