Mr Ed has a good idea! GOSH!!!

[Workingman]

He wants to replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber.

Details are a bit thin at the moment. He wants to call it a Senate, which is naff, and he wants to rebalance the make up so that the four countries of the UK, its regions (counties) and cities, are not outnumbered by London Lords and Ladies, which is good.

It is not an election promise, as yet, but the idea is now out there and it could gather momentum.

[Suff]

Wow, an elected Senate.

Who will demand a "Wage", not a "retainer for turning up". Whether they turn up or not.
Who will expect real power. Not the oversight and control created today
Who will expect a hand in policy and governance
Who will follow party lines and whips, because they can be voted out if they don't. Just remember. Lords, today, can vote how they feel and on their principles and even on the principles of those who bring things to their attention. They can't be sacked, they can't be voted out.

Be very, very, careful of what you wish for. Labour don't want to do this because they think it will work. They want to do this to "stick it" to the establishment and, in the doing so, get some votes from those who have no clue what it's all about.

[cromwell]

A "senate of the regions".
Not in favour, really. It will just be filled with the same sort of failures and re-treads that infest the post of Police and Crime Commissioners, etc.
The last thing this country needs is more professional politicians; we have too many as it is.

[Workingman]

Yes, an elected whaterveryouwanttocallit.

Nobody at present knows exactly what form it will take, and as it is a constitutional matter it will have to go before a Commission where it can, and probably will, be amended before probably going to a referendum.

Just because the House of Lords exists does not me it cannot be changed, that is the beauty of an unwritten constitution. One big change in my lifetime was the introduction of Life Peers; what a success that was! The vast majority in the Lords are now political appointees, party apparatchiks, and as has been noted we cannot sack them and we cannot vote them out.

[Suff]

One big change in my lifetime was the introduction of Life Peers; what a success that was! The vast majority in the Lords are now political appointees, party apparatchiks, and as has been noted we cannot sack them and we cannot vote them out.

And if that is not a very good reason to avoid interfering in our second house with half assed changes which are not thought through, then there never was one.