The House of Lords

The Lords are going to vote for 100% appointment, and the 95 Labour MPs who voted for 100% election after voting against 80% election were mostly, if not entirely, wreckers.

So, how about this for a compromise? Within a generally appointed House of Lords as at present, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and each of the nine English regions (though with their boundaries altered to reflect those of the historic counties) might each elect, from two lists, eight peers.

On one list would be party candidates: vote for one and the top five would be declared elected at the end. And on the other list would be Independents: vote for one and the top three would be declared elected at the end. This would give 96 in all, sitting for life, but with the procedure repeated every 15 years.

Furthermore, since peers, unlike MPs, currently have responsibilities only to the whole nation and not to individual constituencies, there would also be a life peerage for any person independent of party who, by the close of nominations for the above election every 15 years, secured the nominations of at least two thousand registered voters in each constituency used for elections to the House of Commons.

These would therefore be a very few people whom a very significant section of politically the more engaged section of society felt belonged within the parliamentary process, in place of the current arrangements for "People's Peers".

Regarding party nominees, after each General Election, each party represented in the House of Commons and whose members took their seats would be permitted to nominate a number of life peers based on where they came among the parties so represented: two for the smallest, four for the second-smallest, and so on up.

A list of up to 20 (just in case) to be nominated would be published by each party prior to each General Election, having been determined by seeking nominations from branches (including of affiliates in Labour's or its successor's case) and including the top 20 in order of the number of such nominations that they received.

And the Lords Spiritual might be elected every five years, from among those of the Church of England's diocesan bishops who expressed a willingness to be so elected, by a body comprising three politically independent nominees of each of MP (including not fewer than one constituent at the time of nomination, nor more than two) as guardians of moral and spiritual values, holding office for life and with each new MP nominating three.

Yes, there would be some non-Christians, including atheists. But there would also be plenty of Catholics, Evangelicals, Anglo-Catholics, old-style Middle Churchmen, Scottish Presbyterians, and others a very long way indeed from the Liberal Establishment within the Church of England.

I am not saying that any of this would be ideal: no change would be ideal, as it would have been in 1999. But that ideal is no longer an option in practice. And I suspect that a lot of people, including in both Houses, would be a lot more favourable towards the above than towards "election" from party lists.