YP Letters: Recipe for much-needed reform of the Lords

YOU highlighted the mess that is our present Upper House. The Lords have a vital revising role and your Editorial (The Yorkshire Post, December 7) raised the question of why reform has never been completed. In fact, reform is even more relevant now when the political emphasis of our country is changing and when we are losing a tier of elected government.

Our elected MEPs will soon be gone and the last thing they should be replaced with is a further increase in undemocratic, appointed life peers. However, the former MEP constituencies will provide a useful framework for new elected life peers.

It is an insult to electors that the present Government plans to reduce the number of elected MPs, while at the same time increasing the number of appointed peers. I have no problem with an Upper House containing peers appointed for their expertise, but their numbers should be balanced by an equal number of elected peers representing valid constituencies.

Appointed life peers should be able to keep their title for life, but their seat only for a limited period as their expertise becomes obsolete, leaving the Government of the day free to appoint replacements and ensure regular refreshment of the Lords without an increase in numbers.