House of Lords Reform Bill — [2nd Allocated Day]

Part of Local Services (Planning) – in the House of Commons at 6:10 pm on 10 July 2012.

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Photo of Karl Turner Karl Turner Labour, Kingston upon Hull East 6:10, 10 July 2012

I absolutely support reform but, as I said from the outset, I am keen on reforming the Lords to the full and having a completely elected second Chamber. I am afraid that this Bill does not offer anything like what I stood at the last general election for. Surely if we are trying to increase democracy and legitimacy, having ex officio religious positions is, in itself, discriminatory.

I accept that the principle of this Bill matches the commitment of all three main political parties in this House, but the Bill is woefully inadequate in terms of achieving its goals. No more time should be spent on this Bill than is necessary, but the Bill fails to achieve many of its declared goals and, in some cases, might make the current situation worse. The Bill must be subject to full and proper scrutiny in the later stages. Constitutional changes are difficult to make, so we must we get this right.