Politics Update from John Birchall
There was a time when I loathed the House of Lords. It was stuffed with hereditary peers who had powers over me simply because of who their Dad was. In all honesty I wanted it scrapped but there my egalitarian views end. I don’t want a single chamber – that puts too much power in the hands of just a few.
No, I want an elected second chamber, something like that used by the Americans and I want those who belong to the ‘second chamber’, note I don’t say ‘upper house’ to have their right to vote in all elections. After all they are members of the public and no longer represent the elite who thought themselves ‘born to rule’.
Having been very much on the back burner for several years it’s interesting to note how an election has suddenly made the case for a democratic second chamber something all parties now feel is essential.
Those marooned in the House of Lords and convicted prisoners and those guilty of electoral offences within the past five years are the only members of our society who, having reached their eighteenth birthday cannot vote. The current government says that the change should wait until the second chamber is fully democratised but that may take years yet.
I am not alone in this view, though some Tory Lords feel that by being in a position to express their own opinions that they don’t need representation in the Commons.
I can’t imagine it will be a vote winner for Messrs Brown. Cameron or Clegg but it would be ‘pleasing’ to see someone debate it during the campaign.
Perhaps this blog could become a trail blazer!