Should Ukip Get More Seats In The House Of Lords

[sp1814]

More than they've been accorded by Cameron...which is zero?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/06/ukip-and-greens-demand-more-peers-in-house-of-lords

I think in this instance, UKIP are right to feel they've been shut out. Whilst I'm not in favour of PR, it seems churlish to give them exactly no seats in the Lords, when they got 4 million votes in the General Election.

What do you think?

[youngmafbog]

Oh dear you will get Mickey on going on abut the ghastly UKIP.

I suppose the argument will be few seats in Parliament means they are not popular and so no Lords seats (Mickey's usual logic)

[sp1814]

youngmafbog

Errr...I think your first sentence got mangled on the way to the Internet.

I don't think the argument about the number of seats in Parliament is a solid one. Those seats are governed by 'who came first' in whatever constituency UKIP stood in.

However, the make-up of the Lords is governed by the dissolution honours and is at the discretion of the PM (based no doubt on who has donated what to party coffers and so on).

I can't see that the number of MPs should necessarily correlate to the number of Lords for each party.

[sp1814]

Ahhh...you mean mikey4444.

I thought you were talking about 'the mickey being taken'.

Up to speed now.

[Old_Geezer]

I may have some sympathy but mainly my support for democracy and thus a fully elected second chamber makes it all moot.

[sandyRoe]

I suppose that would be one way to get Farage back to Westminster.

[askyourgran]

The Lords is bloated enough, time we put a retirement date on these old timers.

[Togo]

It would work for ........say Gerry Adams too.

[Hymie]

I’m not aware of any UKIP supporters with the correct credentials to be appointed to the House of Lords by Mr Cameron (i.e. Given a bung to the Conservative party).

[Marshwarble]

The campaign to get Nigel Farage made a Lord starts here. Anything to stop him running for MPship.

[mikey4444]

No !

[jourdain2]

Seriously, it's a difficult one, isn't it? Cameron is happily 'swamping' the H.o.Lds. with tory peers at the mo. His party did not get a majority of votes cast. He's a tricky customer I.M.O. and I don't see why UIKIP should not be represented, given the number of votes cast for them. One with you in this instance sp1814!

[mikey4444]

Why would UKIPdeserve seats in the Lords !? They are a failed political Party, with one MP and that one borrowed from the Tories !

[jno]

nobody deserves a seat in the Lords; not one has been put there by voters, though a few have been put there by God. Away with them (though a review chamber is a useful idea).

[david small]

Farage,a voice in the wilderness. I seem to recall Churchill given the same epithet.

[Hypognosis]

Call me out of touch but I've always viewed the HoL as a part and parcel of the Honours System in this country. You get made into a peer after years and years of dutiful service to the public in the capacity of an MP. Johnny-come-latelys do not get instant peerages.

I would have liked to say that UKIP have "only one MP and only one policy", just for the symmetry of it but have to admit that they now have a slew of policies.

Sending their one MP to the Lords might come across as shoveling him out of the way, where he can only gripe about bills on the conveyor belt and not launch a bill of his own. Is it early day motions where MPs can win a lottery to present one of their own?


Anyway, all moot. There are 800 (?) of them already, snoring away and burning a hole in our collective pockets (£400/hr???). Scrap the whole setup and bring in an elected chamber; 400 members, tops.

I would like them to all be business leaders but they don't really retire and probably couldn't stand the drop in income. Judges and lawyers will be needed to keep the legal knowledge base strong but I doubt they'd accept the pay cut either.

What to do, eh?

[janbee]

The House of Lords, like the Labour Party, are outdated. Both should now be abolished.

[sp1814]

janbee

Abolish the Labour Party?

But who would be the voice of all the millions of Labour voters???

Strange concept.

[mikey4444]

Janbee......9,347,304 voted Labour in May and elected 232 MP's !

I agree with SP here.....why would would you want to disenfranchise 9,347,304 people ?

Very strange !

[Peter Pedant]

Farage cant go to the Lords
he doesnt snort cocaine or consort with prostitutes - er DOES he ?

[Peter Pedant]

// You get made into a peer after years and years of dutiful service to the public in the capacity of an MP. //

trooping in and out of the division lobbies
as directed by the whips such as Andrew Mitchell

I feel sorry for the sheep like MPs who do this and then DON'T get to the Lords such as Sir Jamz Spicer lately MP for west dorset

I wrote to a medical Lord ( Walton of Darshant) and told him what a crap job he was doing specifically helpin to legislate medical regulation that he had actually opposed as head of the GMC

and he wrote back that that was the job of the medical Lords - to assist the govt in power to legislate

I read the letter with my mouth open