No doubt Lords reform will be back on the agenda after the peers have had their way with the Article 50 Bill. The Lords will at most be able to delay the legislation, but it may well return to the Commons in a shape that is displeasing to the Tory brexiteers. In that instance, we can expect to see ministers huff and puff about the impertinence of an unelected house interfering with Government legislation. These will be the same ministers who as Tory MPs frustrated Nick Clegg’s plans to have the House of Lords elected along with so many of their colleagues.
The Lords is a revising and scrutinising chamber and it has a duty to take the Government on if they produce bad legislation and I expect to see them doing that.
The idea of electing the Lords was discussed again on Friday as Green Peer Jenny Jones’ private members’ bill came up for second reading. It is not dissimilar to Lib Dem thinking on Lords reform and it was therefore unsurprising that our Alan Beith and Paul Scriven spoke up in favour of the Bill.
Alan had a good swipe at the Tories’ plans for a Repeal Bill in the process:
>We are now in a new situation. It would be an extraordinarily optimistic person who thought that we could get through legislation on Lords reform in a Parliament which will be overwhelmed by the vast corpus of primary and secondary legislation that will be involved in leaving the European Union. Perhaps the noble Baroness shares the tendency to political optimism which is often a characteristic of Liberal Democrats.
Her Bill has many similarities with the coalition’s proposals and with Liberal Democrat policy. It provides for what we regard as the essential ingredient of democracy while recognising that the second Chamber should be elected on a different basis from the Commons and on a different timescale. However, retaining all existing Peers except hereditaries as non-voting Members outnumbering the voting Members would produce a very strange assembly with obvious tensions. The noble Baroness may be making a massive concession before the process of negotiation has even begun in order to get turkeys to vote for Christmas.
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Paying for it
Badfinger: Day After Day
Westerleigh Road BRIDGE CLOSURE DEBACLE As we previously reported , from this week Westerleigh Road has been closed at the bridge over the M4 near the Folly pub. Unfortunately despite residents warning in advance about the dangers of HGVs ending up on inappropriate narrow country lanes, Highways England did not do enough to make sure drivers used the diversion route. As a result large articulated lorries have been trying to navigate Coalsack Lane, which is single track in places. Thanks to their failure to put up a sign at the Ruffet Road/Badminton Road junction saying no access to the ring road, drivers who are used to cutting through Ruffet Road/Coalsack Lane have ended up trying to turn in the road. Best bet is to steer clear of the M4 bridge completely. Your Focus Team has been raising concerns on behalf of residents and Highways England have now promised more signs will be installed. Please avoid the area. BUT WHY DIDN'T HIGHWAYS ENGLAND LISTEN IN THE FIRST PLACE??
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Former cat rescue shop on Old Street, Ludlow, could be converted into a café with flats above
Bus services in the West End #dundeewestend
Purgatory is other people
Joseph Bourke 12th Jul - 2:05pm
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