Lords’ “wreckers” make strong case for their abolition – George

MP Andrew George (Liberal Democrat MP for the West Cornwall & Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives) has tabled a Commons motion calling for the abolition and replacement of the unelected House of Lords, if peers persist with “wrecking antics” against a Private Members’ Bill (PMB) which has majority backing of the elected House of Commons.

Andrew said, “Of course, unelected Lords have an important role to play and, when operating at its best, can provide helpful scrutiny, sober second-thought and constructive revision to legislative decisions made in the elected House of Commons. But when Peers adopt the artifice of procedural devices to frustrate the will of the elected House, they bring themselves and the whole House of Lords into disrepute. The recent behaviour of some Peers will do little more than precipitate stronger calls for them to be abolished. And I’m not directly referring to the questionable system of preferment and patronage which enables and ennobles the likes of Lord Mandelson and Baroness Mone.

“Whether I was persuaded to back Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill (Adults) Dying Bill or not, I would still launch this motion. It’s about the pre-eminence of the elected House of Commons over the unelected Lords. The Commons concluded after hundreds of hours of debate and consideration to back this PMB. Peers holding up the Bill cannot assert they’re motivated by a desire to address perceived imperfections in the Bill. This presupposes that all Bills reach a point of universally agreed flawlessness before they become law. That’s not to suggest I’d be content with something thrown together at speed with insufficient thought.

“I’ll be seeking cross-party support for the Government to take action to ensure the integrity of both the role of the Commons and Lords”.

EDM 2709: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/65143

Role of the House of Lords in scrutinising legislation

Andrew George (St Ives)

That this House believes that the use of filibuster tactics in the House of Lords to frustrate the majority will of the democratically elected House of Commons is unacceptable, including where the elected Commons has given its majority support to a Private Members’ Bill; further believes that the case for the outright abolition of the House of Lords and its replacement would be strengthened if such tactics were used; acknowledges that, although the House of Lords often provides a helpful role through scrutinising and suggesting constructive revisions to bills, it should not have the power to block them, nor to use its procedures to the same effect; and calls on the Government to take legislative steps to ensure that Private Members’ Bills backed by a majority in the elected House can never be defeated by undemocratic means in the House of Lords.