Honours system ‘must be more transparent’

The role and powers of the commission responsible for vetting nominations to the House of Lords must be clearly defined under law, MPs warn today. In an interim report, the public administration select committee (PASC) says the row over cash for honours shows the current way of scrutinising honours “has proved flawed”. The publication of […]

Levy arrest ‘not just a gesture’

The police officer investigating the cash for honours scandal has insisted the arrest of Lord Levy yesterday was not just a symbolic act to show he was serious. Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner John Yates told the public administration committee (PASC) that he was simply “following the evidence”. This morning’s meeting came as Downing Street […]

Straw: This is the time for Lords reform

Politicians must “seize the opportunity” of a consensus on House of Lords reform or risk the issue being consigned to the backburner for decades, Jack Straw has warned. In his first major speech since becoming leader of the House of Commons, he said he believed MPs across the political spectrum could agree on the idea […]

Levy named in Lords nomination row

Lord Levy has been named as the person who told a wealthy businessman that his £250,000 loan to the Labour party need not be declared when applying for a peerage. The party’s chief fundraiser and close friend of Tony Blair told Gulam Noon that he need not mention the loan in his application papers to […]

New lord speaker elected

Baroness Hayman has today been elected as the first speaker of the House of Lords. The life peer, a former Labour leader of the House of Lords, beat off competition from eight other peers for the £101,000-a-year role. The role of lord speaker was created following reform of the post of lord chancellor, who until […]

Lords’ speaker election begins

Members of the House of Lords have today begun voting to elect a speaker of the House for the first time. It follows reform of the post of lord chancellor, who until now was responsible for overseeing debates, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Nine peers are in the running for the new £101,000-a-year role […]

Straw ‘supports’ party spending cap

Jack Straw, the leader of the House of Commons, has said he is in favour of placing greater limits on the amount of money that political parties can spend. Although he believes the existing mechanisms in place to stop parties from overspending are “effective”, Mr Straw still thinks that there is room for improvement. “The […]

MPs call for Lords ban on convicted peers

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 […]

Eight nominees for lord speaker job

The deadline for nominations to the new post of speaker of the House of Lords closes today, with eight peers up to for the position. The £103,000-a-year job was created following the abolition in all but name of the post of lord chancellor, who used to oversee debates, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Unlike […]

Straw to work towards partly elected Lords

The government is keen to get an agreement on a partly elected and partly appointed House of Lords, the minister in charge of the negotiations has said. Jack Straw, who was appointed leader of the House of Commons in the reshuffle earlier this month, said that despite his previous personal opposition to a fully appointed […]