Life peers to be given right to resign
Saturday, 18 July 2009 12:37 PM
Life peers are to be given the right to step down from their duties in the House of Lords.
The proposal is to be included in a constitutional reform bill that will be go before parliament on Monday. At present, all members to the upper house are appointed except for 92 hereditary peers.
Under the changes, peers can step down from their position in order to become MPs again - thereby opening up senior positions in the UK cabinet to them.
The move could see first secretary Lord Mandelson return to the House of Commons and possibly run for the top positions in government.
Asked by the Financial Times about his future plans, Lord Mandelson said: "The legislation has to get on to the statute book. I'm not anticipating any change for myself. Goodbye."
Previously, Conservative party leader David Cameron has also spoken out about the need for the reform of the House of Lords, saying that he is in favour of the House of Lords being partly elected.
A report out today by the Conservative's Democracy Task Force entitled An Elected Second Chamber: A Conservative Response has spoken of "clearly defined time limits" for members of the House of Lords as a move towards an elected upper house.
The authors of the report MPs Sir George Young and Andrew Tyrie Mr Tyrie said: "A majority of the parliamentary Conservative party support a largely or fully elected Lords, reflecting a sizeable majority in the Commons as a whole and in the country.
"This report is about how we get there, but it is also about the more immediate changes that we can make, such as term peers and an effective standards regime. These are changes that can be implemented without provoking a constitutional confrontation with the Lords. We cannot allow parliament to be absorbed with such a row while the economic crisis remains so deep."
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