Victory for the Lords
Bravo for the Lords for defeating the casino bill! Sir Richard Leese, the Labour leader of Manchester City Council said, “There was a wish from the elected house…to get on with delivering casinos. I am very confident that when the secretary of state has reflected, she will come to the conclusion that the elected chamber ought to hold sway…” Typical! Had an elected House of Lords vetoed it, there would have been an impasse if you go by Sir Richard’s argument. That’s why there’s no point in having an elected Lords. One might just as well have a single chamber as have two elected ones.
posted by Whispering Walls at 12:26 pm
4 Comments:
Yes indeed, Hooray for the Lords !!
[Or should that be 'Hurrah', for the non-working class readers of this blog ?]
Once again they bring some reason and common sense to these debates, acting as a brake on a headlong rush off the cliff-face.
They helped modify the Hunting Bill, they rescued civil liberties from the ridiculous '90-day detention' proposals and they've put the kybosh on the super-casino.
As our American friends might say:
'What's not to like?'..
But anon, they are ultimately impotent. They didn't stop the hunting bill did they?
eminem - fancy bumping into you here!
My point was that the number of 'here and there' amendments which had to be inserted into the 'hunting bill' to get it through the Lords have meant that hunting hasn't disappeared - but it is subject to some regulation.
This 'middle way' compromise had been available all along, but the Commons were too daft to vote for it.
The Lords know their role, and know not to torpedo primary legislation.
The Commons should know that they can get any legislation through the Lords IF they are willing to show common sense, and negotiate with the Lords to improve legislation.
If they are intransigent [Jowell] & try to force through ill-thought out legislation which doesn't have the support of the people [witness the applause last night on Question Time to a question of whether the Lords had done the country a favour] then the Lords are within their rights to try and improve the legislation, even if that means it is a 'damage limitation' exercise.
i'm ambivalent on HOL reform but good for them in this case, I say! - I hadn't heard about this until I read your post, WW, so thank you.
Post a Comment
<< Home