"I am happy to put the advice provided to me by the Library into the public domain if noble Lords wish, but I have the advice here and it is very clear. The other seven appointed bicameral Chambers include the nations that I have just talked about. If the noble …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"I hear what the noble Lord says and have some sympathy with it, but is not the system that he described exactly the system brought in by the previous Government for the European election?..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"Before my noble friend moves on to his next point, I hope that he will allow me to make two points. Some 60% of the Members of this place are appointed here as Members of Parliament from the other end by their party leaders. That is pure patronage, not patronage …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"I am grateful to my noble friend for giving way. The fact that I put him here does not make the system any better; it makes it worse because I had to put him here to enable us to fulfil our functions. Although he did not give me any undertakings, …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"I wonder if the noble and learned Lord could be clearer than was his noble friend, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, in our debate last Thursday, in which he seemed unclear as to whether or not, if this Bill were presented to this House absent of a clear codification on …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, I knew that an intervention would be popular.
Can the noble Lord address the central question? Can he explain why it is that this Chamber cannot follow the same principle as the vast majority of second Chambers elsewhere in the world, which is by being democratically based? Is …..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech
"My Lords, it is important that we are clear on this—by the way, of course I agree with that position. Is the noble Lord saying that the Labour Party would not support 80 per cent elected, 20 per cent appointed?..." Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon - View Speech