House of Lords: Reform

Lord Bishop of Exeter Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Exeter]

My Lords, on behalf of the whole House, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger, and congratulate him on his maiden speech. It is always good to welcome another voice from the south-west to this Chamber. I am particularly encouraged that among his interests is a concern for the welfare of young people, particularly those who suffer from a range of disadvantages, and for the environment. Many on these Benches and across the House share those concerns. With his background in business and industry and his interests in the arts, we very much look forward to hearing his contributions on these and other matters in our future debates. Dare I say, I hope that his stay among us will be a long one?

As has been consistently said from these Benches, in terms of size, composition, working practices, representation from other faiths and provisions for both appointment and retirement, we believe that there is a clear case for reform of this House. That case is strengthened by those changes in the wider constitutional context of which we are a part, not least devolution, and the setting up of the Supreme Court, separate from the High Court of Parliament, some of the consequences of which we have yet to see. So a case for a variety of reforms can be made, but whether that case justifies the proposals for abolition and replacement, which we have before us in the draft Bill, is another matter.

However, whether the issue is one of reformation or transformation, it is with function that either should begin. Without clarity of function, it is not possible to be clear about form, and it is in the capacity to serve function that a form has to be judged. In 1896, the architect Louis Sullivan put it like this:

“It is the pervading law of all things organic, and inorganic … that form ever follows function. This is the law”.

The fundamental starting point of the proposals before us is the contention that, as currently constituted, the House is unfit for purpose; our form is not adequate to our function. The prime reason, as set out by the Deputy Prime Minister, is that although this House is,

“known for its wisdom and expertise, [it] is none the less undermined by the fact it is not directly accountable to the British people”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/5/11; col. 155.]

It is a bold assertion and it would be very helpful if the Minister could provide the hard evidence of this undermining. Is it that the House is not effective in carrying out its core functions? Is it a lack of power, particularly in relation to another place? We have heard different views on that. Is it to be found in a lack of public confidence, or is the lack of confidence a bigger problem, which is primarily directed elsewhere?

That brings us to the issue of being directly accountable to the British people. The question has to be asked: accountable for what? Is it accountable for policy? I would hope not. For many years, it has been accepted that the locus for this is primarily in the House of Commons. As the great constitutionalist, Ivor Jennings, put it, public policy is made by the Government deciding, according to the political principles on which they were elected and having regard to the needs of the moment, subject however to the consent of the House of Commons and subject to the constant warning that the last word rests with the electorate. Is there not a danger that a directly elected senate, with members holding seats for 15 years, might claim a legitimacy from the principles on which they were elected, but without the constraints and accountability at the ballot box that are so important in the other House?

Supposing the accountability is not for policy but for improving legislation, probing intent, and raising matters of public concern in a way that is not possible in heavily whipped circumstances elsewhere. In May of this year, the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, spoke of securing,

“a more assertive House with the authority of the people and an elected mandate”.—[Official Report, 17/5/11; col. 1279.]

Again, I have to ask: assertive of what, and to what end? If the end, the function, is to serve the policy that is set in another place, by helping to scrutinise and produce better legislation, then the “authority of the people” and an “elected mandate” may not be one and the same thing.

We tend to speak of democracy as if representative democracy through the ballot box is the sum total of what we mean, but that is far from being the case. A much broader, and not to be neglected part of democratic understanding is to be found in the concept of participatory democracy, which is about ensuring that all citizens are enabled to be actively involved in the decisions which shape their lives. The right to vote is one aspect of such democratic participation, but it does not exhaust it. People participate in key decision-making through their membership of trade unions, professional associations and churches and through engaging in voluntary activities and in supporting charities. In Britain today, where turnout for elections at all levels is low and there is mass apathy about the value of the ballot box to many people's lives, there is a manifest democratic deficit. Legitimacy, as we have recently been reminded, comes not merely through being elected, but also through being trusted. If a key issue before us is truly about accountability and engagement, I have to wonder whether it is in further elections and more paid politicians that we will find the answer we need. Is this the form that the function of increasing democratic participation really requires?

Harold Laski, in his magisterial work A Grammar of Politics, in considering the need for a second Chamber, said:

“Single chamber government is the apotheosis of democratic rashness. We need a brake on the wheel. We need a mechanism that enables us to delay the first rough impulses of a body fresh from its contact with the electorate and eager, in its inexperience, to embrace every kind of novelty. A second chamber provides exactly this safeguard; and it is regarded as noteworthy that practically every State of importance in the modern world has adopted a two chamber system”.

But he then goes on to warn of the dangers of thinking that any one model of a second Chamber can always contain all the elements to meet this need effectively. He wrote:

“The hereditary second chamber is excluded (it being a denial of equal citizenship, and of the basis of the state in its faculty for protecting the equal interests of members in its results). The elected second chamber, if made simultaneous with the first, is merely a reiteration of it; if made at a different time is merely a hindrance to policy making. The nominated second chamber suffers from the fact that if nominated on party principles it is ... entirely noxious, and, if on the principle of eminent service, it does not necessarily relate the service it distinguishes to the political process”.

There is no perfect system. Different legislatures have adopted, and adapted, different forms to meet different needs. There is a need for clarity, and not least for clarity about the different functions of the two parts of any bicameral scheme, the form which such functions require, and the relationship between the two parts of the greater whole.

The draft Bill before us proposes no change to the functions of the present House. So with no change of function there must be clear evidence that this function is better served by a new form. Will it be? What is proposed is a hybrid, a House with 240 elected and 60 appointed Members. Yet it is still not clear to me whether these proportions were arrived at with function in mind. Is there an evidence base to which to refer, drawing on the experience of similar legislatures in other parts of the world? What work was undertaken to explore how different models of hybridity might best serve the functions for which a second Chamber in the British system is clearly deemed to exist?

As to relationships between the new House and the House of Commons, we are told that the powers of the two will evolve, but that these should not be anticipated now. Is not the very function of a second and subsidiary House for it to be so constituted as to scrutinise and anticipate precisely the pitfalls and elephant traps that may lie on the way ahead, and to do so in such a way that a body with an eye to immediate political and media approbation is not always best placed to do.

When I was an undergraduate, reading history and politics, I was struck by one lecturer arguing forcibly that the UK does not really have a bicameral legislature, but a unicameral one, with a revising and scrutinising Chamber attached. It is an observation worth reflecting on; and it is also worth asking whether a change of form, without proper regard to function, will itself result in a changed view of the functions of Parliament as a whole and an unforeseen outcome which may not be the most effective legislature that the nation needs.