The Lords should not be elected. The House of Lords should be ex officio

An elected House of Lords is a challenge to the House of Commons. It would be a source of confusion. The democratic mandates would often conflict due to the electoral cycle. For those that like First Past the Post, the allegedly decisive nature of UK politics would be lost.

The House of Lords is a reviewing chamber and should stay so. We need a House of Lords based on expertise. To avoid party political bias, members should be appointed Ex Offico. The obvious pool of candidates would be the principal members' representative from trade unions, trade associations, professional associations, charities and the heads of plcs, even a few ex MPs. The Law Lords and the Bishops are already there but add other religions too. This is already done but not ex officio. To limit numbers, each interest group could be rotated like the Bishops at present. It would be important to have practicing professionals as representatives not paid administrators of associations.

Such a version of the Lords should keep their existing power of amendment. Their specialist expertise will greatly improve the detail of legislation. Putting the movers and shakers from the PLCs in the Lords will also expose the oligarchs and their interests in a place that they can be seen by the public. This was how Parliament used to function. The manoeuvres of the rich and powerful could be seen at first hand as they make their case in public. Now lobbying takes place out of sight.

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