Last night I attended a meeting of MPs and other supporters of a predominantly elected House of Lords. It got me thinking about the nature of the discussion about House of Lords reform. Like many political issues It's easy to get bogged down in the details. Which option should MPs choose to give us the best chance of ending up with an elected House of Lords? What should a reformed second chamber be called? How should we vote for any elected members? Who should be eligible to stand? What should the term limits be? How do we make sure that the Commons is still the primary chamber?
Those who oppose any change to the status quo put up objections fundamentally based on the pragmatism of politics. This morning on the Today programme a Conservative MP talked about what a distraction Lords reform would be to any government over the next few years - in his view a good enough reason to leave things as they are.
Maybe on this issue it's time to forget the politics and the business of government. It is time to assert the principle that those who make our laws should be chosen by the people and worry about the details later.
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