Clause 2 — Requirement of membership of the House of Lords

Part of Orders of the Day — Constitutional Reform Bill [Lords] — 1st Allotted Day – in the House of Commons at 8:00 pm on 31 January 2005.

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Photo of Mr Paul Tyler Mr Paul Tyler Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 8:00, 31 January 2005

You would probably call me to order, Mrs Heal, if I spoke at length about the proportional representation system that I—along with members of the hon. Gentleman's party and members of the governing party—hope to include in a draft Bill in a couple of weeks; but it will not be a list system.

This Bill, we hope, will ensure that the Lord Chancellor of the future is the best person for the job. We would wish to ensure not just that that person was accountable to the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the day, in terms of collective responsibility, but that he or she was accountable to the nation at large through Parliament. We accept the argument that the best way to achieve that is to prevent any discrimination against any individual holding the post.

I find extraordinary the way in which members of the Conservative party so patronisingly describe all those in the other place as being at the end of their careers—on the verge of their dotage, according to the hon. Member for Huntingdon. We believe that the occupant of this important post, responsible for a considerable budget for a very important Department, should be answerable, in the best possible way, to whichever House of Parliament of which he or she is a Member, and through Parliament to the people of this country. It would be absurd to prevent that improvement from being made by the Bill simply because of an assumption that the current Prime Minister will always block real reform of the other place.

We will support the Government in a Division to remove prescription and discrimination that we consider unnecessary and undesirable. We accept the view of the Select Committee, which has thought about the matter very carefully, that on balance it would be best to dispose of this proposal now.