There is a great deal of attention paid to the political question of whether to reform the House of Lords into an elected chamber. But is this change really necessary or even perhaps harmful?
Most of us in the PoliticsBlog UK community can agree that the House of Lords lack of democratic legitimacy is unnatural in comparison to most modern democracies which have two elected chambers. The classic model being the senate and the House of Representatives in the USA.
It is completely understandable why many in the political community, especially from the Liberal Democrat party and the pressure group Electoral Reform Society advocate support for an elected second chamber, and that is because democratizing the Lords increases the mandate for the Lords to influence the legislative process.
However, the means of how the Lords would be elected. If as the Liberal Democrats propose, a system of proportional representation were used then the Lords would almost certainly become a multi-party house, the government would rarely achieve a guaranteed majority and it would become extremely difficult to pass any legislation at all!
Yes we would of gained a more modernized political system, but what is more important, proportionality or governing efficiency? There are also a series of questions that stifles general consensus of how an elected Lords could work. For example, how long would members serve for? How much powers would an elected House of Lords have? If they are given to much power, this would greatly diminish the status of the House of Commons, resulting in certain political deadlock.
And would elected members really be beneficial for our political system? The truth is an elected second chamber would be filled to the brim with nothing but lobby fodder, who would simply do as the party whips instruct them. Doesn't really sound that democratic now does it?
An elected chamber would also lose all the expertise that exists in the Lords. As elected members of the Lords would presumably wield a much lower status than the Commons, it would surely attract politicians of a much lower calibre in comparison to the current life peers.
There is mo doubt that an elected House of Lords would bring the British political system more in line with the modern world. It would of course make government more representative and would better safeguard against over powerful political parties in the Commons. These are indeed very strong arguments.
However, we must take into consideration the very probable problems that would arise from this, notably the dangers of political deadlock. We would also lose all the advantages of appointed life peers and their expertise. The political system we have today works well how is is .. we shouldn't try and fix what isn't yet broken
Written by Conleth Gallagher - Instagram @conlethgallagher_
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