It Wasn't "Broke" Mr Blair

I notice from the Queen's speech that Tony Blair is going to tinker with the House of Lords yet again. Many people will agree with him that the House of Lords is an anachronism in a modern democratic society and so at first sight it would seem to be so.

Many people say that the House of Lords should be elected. That is to misunderstand what the Lords does and the role it plays in the British constitution. The Lords scrutinises legislation without the hot political atmosphere of the Commons. The Lords cannot discuss finance bills (Parliament Acts 1911), it cannot stop bills, it can delay them and give the Commons time to think again. The Lords has the time to go through bills clause by clause.

The Lords together with the Queen have the important powers that prevent the country from becoming a dictatorship,in that between them they can prevent Parliament from prolonging itself and a Prime Minister from remaining in office.

Critics say that the Lords is out of touch, life Peers bring a great deal of life experience to the chamber, they have been businessmen, doctors, etc, on any subject there are several peers who can speak with personal insight and knowledge.

Labour has always believed that the Lords always makes difficulties for their legislation and suports the Tories. There is no truth in this belief, the most number of times that legislation has been delayed and the Lords used their delaying power effectively was against Margaret Thatcher's Tory Government.

I suspect that the real reason for tinkering with the Lords is that, because of the way the British constitution works with its checks and balances, that when one part of the constitution is not working properly another can take its place. When there has been no effective opposition in the Commons i.e for the many years of Conservative Government when the Labour party was in total disarray, and in recent years when the Tory party has been busy fighting each other, when the government of the day has had over-whelming majorities in The Commons, The Lords has used the delaying powers it has, wisely, to do the job that the opposition party in the Commons usually does and prevent the government from having a totally free rein.

It would seem that the Prime Minister wants us either to have an appointed second chamber, appointed by him one supposes, or an elected second chamber so that the governing party would then have a majority in both chambers. Either way what Britain would end up with is a second chamber with no teeth, solely there to rubber-stamp legislation, as happens in many other countries. This would be an absolute disaster it would upset the fine balance of the constitution, yes we do have one, it just isn't entirely written and it isn't written in one document. It would aso and this is far more dangerous for the rights of the common man give the government, far too much power which could eventually lead to dictatorship.