An elected House of Lords will be bad for British democracy

23 Nov 2010

Why Now

An elected second chamber. Who could argue with that? Surely it’s what all good democrats would like to see in place of the present House of Lords with its party appointees and hereditary rump? Or is it? Never forget the overweening dominance of political parties in British political life. If members of the Lords have to submit to the same electoral cycle as MPs won’t they just suffer the same fate as MPs and become entirely dependent for advancement on the party leadership? Become the Cabinet’s creatures?

Elections may confer the patina of legitimacy to political arrangements, but in Britain’s elective dictatorship, as Lord Hailsham called it, they simply end up reinforcing the power of the executive in parliament. And since the purpose of a second chamber is to serve as a check on the arrogance of executive power, since an independence of spirit is required whenever members of that chamber revise legislation and use their suspensive veto, then open elections to the Lords are surely the last thing we need?

Appoint them; elect them indirectly; choose them from pre-selected professional categories; any system you like, but not direct elections. Or so those resistant to reform like to argue. Are they just being ante-deluvian diehards? Is this just cover for the retention of existing privileges? Or are they right?

Event information:

This event took place in the Floral Hall, Royal Opera House on the morning of 23rd November 2010. Full video is now available above for Premium Members.

A full transcript of this debate is also available.

An accompanying Intelligence Squared written debate is available for free.

Speakers for the motion

Vernon Bogdanor

Research Professor, King's College, London and author of the forthcoming The Coalition and the Constitution
Shami Chakrabarti

Director of Liberty; Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University
Sir Simon Jenkins

Columnist on The Guardian and Evening Standard and former editor of The Times

Chair

Nik Gowing

Main presenter, BBC World News.

Speakers against the motion

Lord Adonis

Director of the Institute for Government, former Secretary of State for Transport and Minister for Schools and member of the House of Lords since 2005.
Billy Bragg

Musician and activist
Polly Toynbee

Columnist on The Guardian