It seems that every year there is another round of House of Lords scandals. This time, it is revelations from the former Lord Speaker Baroness D’Souza that a peer left a taxi waiting outside parliament while he went inside to register for his daily £300 allowance.
She disclosed in the BBC series Meet the Lords that there are “many, many, many who contribute absolutely nothing, but who claim the full allowance”.
Baroness D’Souza has exposed a truly scandalous situation. However, since peers are unelected, there is essentially no way to get rid of those who abuse the system. In the face of yet another scandal, we believe it is time for real reform of the upper chamber.
The behaviour of the Lords is damaging for trust in democracy and does huge disservice to the standing and legitimacy of the mother of all parliaments. The government must come forward with proposals for a properly accountable and fairly elected upper chamber. In the interests of our democracy, it’s time to sort out the Lords before the next scandal comes along.
Katie Ghose
Chief executive, Electoral Reform Society
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