Tag Archives: house of lords

Lord (Tom) McNally writes: The year ahead for Liberal Democrat Lords

By Lord Tom McNally | Tue 14th May 2013 - 7:00 pm

LAST week I had the delight, honour and privilege to open the second day of the debate on the Queen’s Speech in the Lords –at four days long, practically the debating equivalent of test cricket.

As I told the House, I have never hidden the reality that, in the present economic climate, the Coalition Government has had to make hard decisions and tough choices to achieve an economic recovery underpinned by fairness. But I believe that in our first three years we have made the tough decisions necessary.

A new parliamentary year is beginning, however, and a new raft of legislation is …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged liberal democrats and tom mcnally | 2 Comments

Eric Avebury writes … Let’s outlaw caste discrimination

By Eric Avebury | Wed 10th April 2013 - 12:49 pm

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill – Lords Amendment 37

Ping Pong stage, April 16, 2013

On March 4, the House of Lords voted by a majority of 103 for a cross-party amendment to make caste a protected characteristic under equality law (via a New Clause in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill). This is a conscience matter and I hope all LibDem MPs will support the Lords’ New Clause, as part of our commitment to the principles of liberalism.

Peers were persuaded by a report commissioned by the Government during the passage of the Equality Act 2010. It confirms that caste discrimination is …

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Posted in News | Also tagged caste discrimination, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill and equality act | 6 Comments

Secret Courts now a reality after Lords amendments fall – how did Liberal Democrats vote?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th March 2013 - 8:07 am

As the sky fell in on open justice, according to Labour whip Angela Smith, Conservative peers were watching the Bond movie Skyfall. The irony actually hurts.

Can it be true? Peer in debate says Tory Peers watching Sky Fall in Cmmttee Room 2? Just to make sure they stay & vote w/out hearing debate?

— Angela Smith (@LadyBasildon) March 26, 2013

Lady Smith might have been better keeping an eye on her own benches. Between the first Division of the Day, on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, and the crucial vote on whether secret courts should be invoked only as a …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged featured and secret courts | 52 Comments

Liberal Democrat Lawyers’ Association speak out on secret courts

By Mary Reid | Tue 26th March 2013 - 11:05 am

The Liberal Democrat Lawyers’ Association held a special meeting on Monday to discuss the Justice and Security Bill. They have sent this message to Lib Dem peers:

It was the unanimous view of the meeting that the measures introduced by the Justice and Security Bill amount to an attack on the Rule of Law in the United Kingdom and that those present were opposed to the measures contained in Part II of the Bill. I was felt that arguably the measures are a greater attack on our traditions and

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged justice and security bill, liberal democrat lawyers association and secret courts | 36 Comments

Time to throw an anvil at secret courts

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 21st March 2013 - 7:21 pm

Next Tuesday, which is both my nephew’s 14th birthday and the 32nd anniversary of the founding of the SDP, the Justice and Security Bill comes back to the House of Lords for consideration. Now, my esteemed colleague Mr Valladares has given a very helpful account of what the Lords can and can’t do. He goes on to suggest that the Upper House will often back down in the face of pressure from the elected Chamber.

If ever, though, there was a time for the peers to kick off, it is now, when the right to a fair trial remedy for …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david howarth, james carville, mark valladares and secret courts | 7 Comments

Secret Courts Bill… don’t get your hopes up

By Mark Valladares | Fri 15th March 2013 - 2:51 pm

So, it has come to this. Apparently, the only hope left of stopping the Secret Courts element of the Justice and Security Bill is to persuade the Parliamentary Party in the Lords to either vote down Part II of the Bill, the bit with the Secret Courts elements in it, or to vote down the entire Bill. Easy, really. Or, perhaps, not. You see, this presumes that the Lords gets to vote on Part II or the entire …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged justice and security bill and secret courts | 9 Comments

Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece writes…

By Meral Ece | Wed 6th March 2013 - 3:00 pm

On Monday 4 March, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, a renowned and respected disability rights campaigner, tabled an amendment, to which I included my name and support, opposing the Government’s proposal to repeal the ‘General Duty’ of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, arguing that doing so will fundamentally change the purpose, role and scope for the only equality and human rights statutory organisation in the UK.

The General Duty says that the EHRC ‘shall discharge its functions with a view to encouraging and supporting a society in which:

.. people’s ability to achieve their potential is not limited by prejudice or discrimination,

…

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged equality and equality act | 8 Comments

Lib Dem peer Avebury on working in your 80s

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th February 2013 - 1:28 pm

Yesterday’s Guardian carries a feature on three people who have worked way beyond the age when they can collect their State Pension.

One of those is Liberal Democrat Peer Eric Avebury, who has written several articles for Liberal Democrat Voice.

At 84, he’s still attending the House of Lords 4 days a week.

He talks of the driving force that keeps him going:

As I have got older I have become more and more keen on the idea of equality. The evidence shows that most of the ills of society – such as crime, mental illness and so on – are deeply correlated

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged eric avebury and guardian | 1 Comment

LibLink: Paul Tyler on target practice

By Mary Reid | Tue 29th January 2013 - 3:43 pm

In a recent post on Lord of the Blogs, Paul Tyler asks where the elusive Parliamentary rifle range is to be found.

For some years, while I was still an MP, there were regular requests for this apparently anachronistic facility, somewhere in the basement, to be replaced with a creche for the children of staff and members of both Houses. One Conservative MP naughtily suggested that the two roles could be combined.

Some years ago Nick Clegg said that it was absurd that parliament should have a shooting range and not a creche. …

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged parliamentary rifle range and paul tyler | 4 Comments

Eric Avebury writes… Press conferences in the Lords

By Eric Avebury | Sun 20th January 2013 - 10:47 am

Believe it or not, there is nowhere in the House of Lords where backbenchers can hold press conferences! We used to be able to use any of the Committee Rooms, but in March 2010 the House agreed that only Committee Room G could be used for this purpose.

Two years later, an obscure Committee which deals with matters such as charging for tours of Big Ben and the use of electric hand dyers decreed that press conferences should be exiled to a small room in a building five minutes’ walk from the House. No consultation

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | 9 Comments

Constituency boundary changes are dead.* Unlike the House of Lords.*

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th January 2013 - 7:45 pm

The House of Lords has today voted to block a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600 as part of the review of constituencies that might have seen the Conservatives gain up to 20 seats. The BBC reports:

The House of Lords voted by 300 to 231 to delay until 2018 a boundary review necessary to make the change. … Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that his party

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged chris rennard, parliamentary boundary review and parliamentary reform | 26 Comments

Because Barons (and Baronesses) are people too – the Lords hit the web!

By Matt Withers | Fri 14th December 2012 - 3:21 pm

Having successfully dipped their toes into the social media pool with their Twitter account, the party’s peers have now launched their very own blog. The site is intended to give an insight into the often overlooked work the group are doing in the second chamber. Because – let’s be honest here – even the most committed of members can be forgiving for not thumbing through Hansard on their morning commute.

In the past week alone there have been blog posts from Roger Roberts

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged badgers | 2 Comments

LibLink: Anthony Lester – My vision of a Leveson law

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th December 2012 - 4:35 pm

Liberal Democrat peer Anthony Lester has written for the Guardian about his independent Press Council bill which he introduced in the House of Lords yesterday.

If his measure became law, it would be the Supreme Court rather than OFCOM which would ensure that the independent self regulatory body was genuinely independent and complying with the principles Lord Leveson set out in his report.

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged anthony lester, featured, guardian and leveson | 1 Comment

172 Liberal Democrats write to the Times to oppose secret courts

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st November 2012 - 11:30 am

As the Justice and Security Bill is debated in the House of Lords for the second day this week, 172 Liberal Democrats have written to the Times to express opposition to the proposals for secret courts and their letter has been published today (£). Although only five names are given in the paper, the full list of 172 who signed before the letter was sent and more who signed subsequently is published on the Lib Dems against secret courts website.

What’s interesting about the list is that it contains such a broad range of

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Posted in News | Also tagged featured, justice and security bill, secret courts and the times | 5 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 29 October – 1 November

By Mark Valladares | Fri 26th October 2012 - 3:21 pm

There are those who suggest that what this country needs is less legislation and more management and proper scrutiny. Perhaps the House of Lords is taking this to heart, as the diary for the week is reflective of such a wish…

Monday sees the beginning of the Committee Stage of the Election Registration and Administration Bill, with Chris Rennard and Paul Tyler leading for the Liberal Democrats, and William Wallace responding on behalf of the Government.

Liberal Democrats will be looking to ensure that voter registration remains mandatory, as …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged chris rennard, hugh dykes, john sharkey, mike german, paul strasburger, paul tyler, ros scott, tim clement-jones and william wallace | 3 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 22-25 October

By Mark Valladares | Fri 19th October 2012 - 11:53 am

I thought that I’d try a different format for the preview this week, so let’s see how it goes…

Monday sees the Third Reading of the Local Government Finance Bill. After this week’s drama, when the Government suddenly came up with an additional £100 million to support local council tax support schemes during the transition phase, one might expect the Bill to be passed relatively comfortably. However, Labour will almost certainly endeavour to ambush this if they can.

Perhaps more interestingly, and certainly a more emotional moment than …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged dick newby and ros scott | Leave a comment

Next week in the Lords: 15-18 October

By Mark Valladares | Fri 12th October 2012 - 10:52 am

It looks as though this column may be going down in flames, now that the Lords have appointed a new Media & PR Officer, but until we do…

Days 7 and 8 of the Committee Stage of the Financial Services Bill dominate the week. And, as I still don’t understand it, I’m going to see if I can get an explanation. Watch, hopefully, this space… However, Amendment 197, to be moved by Lord Flight, requires banks to transfer accounts to a new institution, if requested, within ten working …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged anthony lester, bill bradshaw, claire tyler, Danny Alexander, derek ezra, Jo Swinson, kishwer falkner, robin teverson and sally hamwee | Leave a comment

Justice and Security Bill: some recommended reading

By Nick Thornsby | Thu 11th October 2012 - 1:39 pm

As the distinction in much of the news media between straight reporting and comment becomes increasingly less clear, and in-depth analysis is replaced by instant comment, reliable, neutral and well-informed analysis of big policy issues becomes more difficult to lay one’s hands on. That is even more true when it comes to Parliamentary business.

Unbeknown to many outside the Parliamentary Estate (or at least to me until fairly recently!) are the documents produced by the Commons and Lords libraries. All the documents produced …

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Posted in News | Also tagged house of commons and justice and security bill | 1 Comment

How to keep up to date with the Liberal Democrat Lords

By Matt Withers | Wed 10th October 2012 - 3:25 pm

Here’s a question which tends to get lost amid the heat and noise generated around the issue of Lords reform – what do the members of the second chamber actually do?

Or at least, what are the Liberal Democrat peers doing on a daily basis? And this isn’t meant in a facetious way. Unless you’re in the gainful employment of the party’s peers, or a broken leg has left you with far too much time in front of BBC Parliament, chances are you might not know how the Lords are working to ensure that every piece of legislation which crosses their …

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Posted in Parliament | 3 Comments

Paul Tyler writes: Progress postponed

By Paul Tyler | Wed 10th October 2012 - 12:56 pm

There was no talk this year of banning champagne at the Conservative Party Conference. Perhaps there was no danger of exuberance among delegates. As recalcitrant Tories sought one-in-the-eye against Nick Clegg by erasing Lords Reform from the Coalition Agreement, their party’s treasured redrawing of the UK electoral map was duly jettisoned too. Without a stronger second chamber to challenge the executive, it would have been wrong to reduce the size of the House of Commons, thereby increasing the proportionate dominance of the government’s ‘payroll’ within it.

Clearly, the failure of the most comprehensive attempt to reform the composition of the Lords …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged conservative party, lords reform and paul tyler | 3 Comments

Lords reform: what the failure means for the Coalition, David Cameron and Nick Clegg

By Mark Pack | Tue 7th August 2012 - 8:06 am

First up, here’s Nick Robinson’s take on yesterday’s events followed by myself, via the BBC News Channel:

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Posted in News and YouTube | Also tagged constitutional reform, david cameron, featured, lords reform, nick clegg, nick robinson and tim montgomerie | 10 Comments

The House of Lords just got even more dangerous for Cameron

By Mark Pack | Mon 6th August 2012 - 8:52 pm

Imagine the situation.

You are a Liberal Democrat peer.

You have voted for several measures you did not like because they were in the Coalition Agreement.

You have now seen the Conservative Party walk away from a major part of the agreement.

You now know your place in Parliament is secure for a good few more years without the party’s whips being able to hold over you anything about your fate when reforms kick in, even if they should wish.

How do you think you are going to vote on future issue after issue that is in the Coalition Agreement but not the LibDem manifesto?

The …

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Posted in Op-eds | 17 Comments

Lords reform: what next?

By Mark Pack | Sat 4th August 2012 - 9:35 am

Four quick thoughts before I go off in search of chocolate, pizza and friends (in reverse order of priority, of course):

1. The last rites on Lords reform for this Parliament have not yet quite been uttered, though it’s striking how those in government I’ve spoken to are all now pretty much just talking about what the repercussions are rather than how it might yet go through. Will Ed Miliband be tempted to mix opportunism with principle and say, ‘No problem about those Tory backbenchers; we’ll support this measure?’.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged constitutional reform and lords reform | 13 Comments

Lord Rennard: “There’s no substitute for democracy”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st August 2012 - 6:59 pm

Liberal Democrat peer and campaigning guru Chris Rennard went on Radio 4 yesterday to respond to the Earl of Glasgow saying that we should back down on Lords reform.

Lord Rennard said that there have been plans for an elected Lords were not Nick Clegg’s alone and that there had been efforts to reform the upper House for 50 years before Nick Clegg was born.

He took a mild swipe at his Liberal Democrat colleague Lord Steel when asked about the latter’s plans to limit the reforms to allowing voluntary retirement and sacking those peers who don’t attend. Those things, said Rennard, …

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Posted in News | Also tagged chris rennard, constitutional reform, david steel, lords reform, nick clegg, opinion polls and the earl of glasgow | 2 Comments

Opinion: Lib Dems should park Lords reform. For now.

By Mark Thompson | Mon 30th July 2012 - 10:23 am

I am an enthusiastic supporter of electoral and constitutional reform in this country. I have been arguing for years that the First Past the Post system for the Commons is hopelessly out of date and unfair and that there is no place in our constitution for an unelected second chamber. I was delighted when the coalition agreement included action on the latter and heartened by Nick Clegg’s various comments in the early days of this government that made it clear he was throwing his full weight as Deputy

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Joint Committee of the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill | 38 Comments

Paul Tyler writes: A victory for democracy?

By Paul Tyler | Wed 25th July 2012 - 6:58 pm

Doubtless some peers now believe that they can go off for the long summer recess, secure in the knowledge that the status quo in the House of Lords is preserved. The thought of a shake-up is so uncomfortable for some inhabitants that they have resorted to calling the Coalition’s House of Lords Reform Bill ‘rushed’, despite its genesis in over a decade of cross-party discussion, and a hundred years of gestation. Yet after subjecting the legislation to a painstaking Joint Committee, which met thirty times to take evidence from almost everyone who has ever thought about the subject, my bets …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged coalition agreement and lords reform | 3 Comments

The graph which shows how many Tory, Labour and LibDem voters support House of Lords reform

By Stephen Tall | Sat 21st July 2012 - 8:45 am

The London Evening Standard reported this week a new poll under the headline Even Lib-Dems say Lords reform is not a priority. Buried two-thirds of the way down, however, was this interesting data:

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Posted in News and Polls | Also tagged constitutional reform, featured and tom brake | 18 Comments

Opinion: Lords reform – how Labour could learn from the Germans

By Stuart Bonar | Thu 19th July 2012 - 2:29 pm

Labour clears the way. So says the century-old Labour campaign poster depicting working men smashing down the door to the House of Lords. Oh dear. Given the opportunity earlier this month to live up to that proud boast they sided instead with rebel, anti-reform Conservatives and together succeeded in forcing the Government to abandon a vote on its proposed timetable for the bill.

Without the timetable, those who, for whatever bizarre reason, don’t believe that the governed should elect those who govern them could talk until the cows come home, ensuring the reform bill is killed off.

Labour could easily have sided with the Government. The …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged angela merkel, constitutional reform, germany, labour party and lords reform | 14 Comments

The compromiser’s dilemma: House of Lords reform

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th July 2012 - 2:10 pm

You propose something. Someone objects to it, giving many reasons. You offer to make some changes to meet some of the objections. A deal is made and progress is achieved.

A perfectly normal sequence of events, both inside and outside politics and whether the matter is as mundane as what to eat for dinner tomorrow or as public as the wording of Parliamentary legislation.

One big …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged av referendum, constitutional reform, featured, guy lodge, lord wakenham, lords reform and michael kenny | 17 Comments

Opinion: The myth of the referendum convention

By Alex Smethurst | Tue 17th July 2012 - 12:41 pm

All three major parties committed to Lords Reform in their 2010 General Election manifestos, however Labour promised an elected Second Chamber via a referendum. This explains why Labour MPs dragged their heels during the Second Reading of the Lords Reform Bill, though a cynic may suggest that Labour did so not as its job as Opposition but because of a more insidious agenda to break up the Coalition. Nevertheless, Labour profess that their opposition stems from a belief that ‘constitutional convention’ requires that the Bill must include a …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged constitutional reform, House of Lords referendum and lords reform | 13 Comments