The jury ' s in: rule by the people, for the people
John Slinger, Chair of Pragmatic Radicalism
John is a Labour Party member and council candidate. He is also the Cofounder and Chair of Pragmatic Radicalism(@ PragRad) and works as a Strategic Communications Consultant for Quiller Consultants.
http:// slingerblog. blogspot. com Twitter- @ JohnSlinger
Reforming the House of Lords
The public regard politicians with a curious mix of indifference and contempt exacerbated by recent scandals. Reform of the House of Lords is an opportunity to find an antidote to this toxic brew. Failure to reform this key institution will leave the field open to those in the media and elsewhere who seek with malice to undermine trust in politicians and the political process. The previous frontrunning reform plan – a fully-elected House of Lords – is not the panacea claimed by many. It may satisfy the urge for reform, but will lead to contradictions, cronyism and constitutional crisis.
Rather than shroud ever more ' place people ' in ermine, we require a new system that places more ' ordinary people ' in Parliament. Radical reform is required, through which half of the Upper Chamber would comprise Citizen Senators, selected by lot, as with jury selection. The remaining 50 per cent would be Expert Senators. Such a system would overcome the weaknesses of the current Lords while engendering a new era of direct public engagement with the nation ' s democratic life.
' Failure to reform this key institution will leave the field open to those who seek to undermine trust in politicians and the political process '
Given that our legislature is primarily concerned with making law, a legal analogy is appropriate. Imagine the House of Lords to be a criminal standing before a court concerned not with punishing but reforming and redeeming. The jury has been made aware of the lengthy charge sheet, all of which derives from the over-riding crime- that the Lords are not democratically elected. From this original sin flow related misdemeanors: that it has no genuine legitimacy or mandate; is unrepresentative of and remote from broader society( particularly women, lower socio-economic groups, non-established religions and minorities); is largely a bastion of political patronage; has many members drawn from the class of former elected politicians, party cronies and donors; and is
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