electoral reform Archives

I discussed how we might reform the House of Lords, even the House of Commons with Sean McGouran last weekend. The surprising thing was that I was the one coming up with radical ideas!

I decided to do some further reading and the following ideas isolated themselves:

Here’s a summary of ideas for revamping the House of Lords:

1. Reforming Membership

Abolition of Life Peers: Replace life peerages with term-limited appointments to ensure turnover.
Reducing Membership: Limit the number of members to make the chamber more manageable and efficient.
Regional Representation: Appoint or elect members to represent regions or nations of the UK, improving local representation.
Removal of Hereditary Peers: Eliminate the remaining hereditary peers to modernize the chamber.
Merit-Based Appointments: Introduce a system where members are selected based on professional or academic achievements.

2. Electoral Reforms

Fully Elected Chamber: Transform the Lords into a wholly elected body to enhance democratic accountability.
Partially Elected/Hybrid Model: Combine elected members with appointed experts to retain diverse expertise.
Proportional Representation: Use proportional representation for elections to better reflect public opinion.

3. Functional and Structural Changes

Advisory Role Only: Restrict the Lords to a purely advisory function, with no legislative blocking powers.
Enhanced Scrutiny: Focus on improving legislative scrutiny, especially for complex policies.
Term Limits: Impose term limits on all members to prevent lifetime positions.

4. Transparency and Accountability

Code of Conduct: Strengthen ethics rules and enforce stricter accountability for members.
Public Involvement: Create mechanisms for citizens to nominate or select members for appointment.

5. Complete Replacement

Senate Model: Replace the Lords with a second chamber modelled after senates in other countries, such as the U.S. or Australia.
Citizen Assembly: Replace the Lords with a randomly selected citizen assembly to ensure diverse representation.

6. Abolition

Unicameral System: Abolish the House of Lords entirely, leaving the House of Commons as the sole legislative body.

7. Devolutionary Considerations

Federal Chamber: Recast the Lords as a federal body representing the UK’s devolved nations and regions.
National Assemblies Input: Allow devolved governments a role in selecting or appointing members.

8. Cultural and Symbolic Changes

Rebranding: Rename the chamber to reflect modern values (e.g., “Senate” or “Council of the Nations”).
Relocation: Move the chamber outside London to symbolize decentralization and inclusivity.

Each proposal has its advantages and challenges, often balancing tradition, expertise, democratic legitimacy, and efficiency.’

During Sean’s and my discussion, I suggested the reform of The House of Lords could encompass:

remove the clergy from the House
No one should be made a peer unless they have achieved something of note in society (e.g. a Senior Trade Unionist who has worked his/her way through the ranks, not just an economics/politics degree)

there were other ideas, but the list above is probably more comprehensive.

I do honestly believe that the House of Lords should stay as a bugger to the House of Commmons – which now seems to be filled with ‘career’ politicians in the main, who seem to be more interested in their career than the country; there have been to many scandals, with too many public enquiries which take too long to reach a verdict (if they even do) – and often when the enquiry is finished it has little or no impact.

[What are the tricks used by the government that most people don’t know?

Private Inquiries – used as a convenient method to kick any awkward questions for government into the VERY long grass.

Public Inquiries – to appoint a chair to oversee such a body – with the nudge that they will receive a preferment of knighthood/damehood or be elevated to the upper house if they come out in favour of the fraudulent government requirement – usually through corruption or incompetence or both, and to probably keep the inquiry going for so long, that people responsible for such a travesty conveniently forget, while the press and the public lose interest.
Variations on the above – to exculpate any notion of impropriety from the government or their political party, or indeed anyone or anything remotely associated with them.

Leaks: probably originally emanating from the top No 10.

These are particularly useful when a member of the government makes a total ‘balls-up’ of something, A contrary public relations propaganda campaign is quickly utilized, to fabricate and provide an illusion that everything was carried out by the government/cabinet member in the strictest form according to the very highest principles, and the media – or most of them – accede to the deception and manipulation, or else they face consequences!

Whisper Campaigns

Rumours, innuendo, and slanderous statements are quietly conveyed in order to damage reputations and/or dry up funding sources and support. Because the allegations are not made publicly, the target is caught in a Catch-22: if the candidate publicly denounces the rumours, it calls attention to the issue. If the candidate ignores the behind-the-back rumours, the campaign can be damaged.

Push Polling

Push polling is an unfair and unethical political device used to communicate negative messages. Under the guise of conducting a legitimate poll, defamatory or otherwise negative and usually false information is conveyed.

Unfair Competition

Practices that hamper the opponent’s ability to fairly compete are unethical. You will sometimes see wealthy candidates hiring as many political consultants as are available, not for their services, but to keep them from working for the opponent. If a candidate condones the removal of posters or any behaviour that stifles the opponent’s message, he or she is engaging in unethical campaigning.

Interference with the Electoral Process

Any campaign practice that provides an obstacle to a citizen’s ability to vote interferes with our democratic notions of fair and free elections. Destruction of mail-in ballots, deliberately staged traffic jams on Election Day, and voter intimidation at the polls are all examples of unethical – and in many instances illegal — tactics designed to discourage voting.

The October Surprise

The infamous “October surprise” is the generic term for a negative attack that comes out shortly before an election, giving the target of the attack little or no time to respond. If the attack is subject to denial or rational explanation, the interests of an informed electorate – if indeed there is such an entity – require that assertions be timed in such a way as to allow a response.]

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