5 March 2019
* Green peer seeks to transform House of Lords from within
* Jenny Jones: Lords reform is essential for proper scrutiny of Brexit process
Jenny Jones, Green member of the House of Lords, will today (March 5) continue her fight to transform the unelected chamber, as she resubmits her House of Lords Reform Bill.
This comes after the government has rejected the incremental reforms put forward by the Burns committee, who recommended that the government slowly reduce the number of peers and only appoint new peers in a way that is proportional with the vote in the last general election and the number of MPs each party has.
Baroness Jones hopes to gather support from within the Lords for her plans to replace the House of Lords with a democratic and effective second chamber. This would use proportional representation to elect a new house, but keep many existing peers as non-voting experts.
Her Bill is the first with this mix of proposals to come from within the Lords.
Jenny Jones said:
“I’m not the only member of the House of Lords who wants to abolish their right to vote in the second chamber, but I’m aiming to be one of the most energetic peers in making it happen. I’m relatively new to the Lords and I hope my fresh approach will help fast track the various discussions about Lords reform.
“The government’s awful approach to Brexit makes Lords reform both urgent and inevitable. The government is trying to push through all kinds of bad ideas on the back of the Brexit negotiations. We need an effective and democratic chamber to help scrutinise the secondary legislation and the international deals.”
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