House of Lords just a dumping ground for party cronies, SNP analysis shows
This is good work by the SNP. It exposes the way Conservatives treat the House of Lords.
This Writer has concerns about the request for Labour not to create any new peers until the Lords is reformed, though. Wouldn’t this simply give the Tories free rein in That Place?
Nearly three quarters of the peers created since the general election are party political apparatchiks, including former MPs, special advisers and party aides, a new analysis reveals.
Since May’s general election, 62 new peers have entered the Lords, including four hereditary peers and two bishops. However, by far the largest group of new peers are retiring, former or deselected MPs and MEPs – 28 of the total, according to an analysis by the Scottish National party.
Four former government special advisers and a number of Conservative party officials have also been introduced to the Lords.
The party insiders include Catherine Fall, a former deputy chief of staff to the prime minister, Simone Finn, a special adviser to trade minister Francis Maude, and a former agriculture minister, Douglas Hogg. Hogg stepped down as an MP at the 2010 election, shortly after it was revealed that he had claimed £2,000 in parliamentary expenses to maintain a moat around his country estate, which he had listed as a second home.
Only four academics and two third-sector figures have become peers over the same period.
Kenneth Gibson, an SNP MSP, said the figures provided fresh evidence of the need for Lords reform. He also called on the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to fulfil his promise not to appoint any peers to the Lords until it has been reformed. Labour has appointed six peers since the election.
Source: House of Lords just a dumping ground for party cronies, SNP analysis shows | Politics | The Guardian
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How on earth can they tollerate the stench of this lucrative cosy crony party…I guess the easy money helps…..along with having friends in very low places. Everything that is wrong with politics today in one place….
clearly reform of the political parties is long overdue as is abolition of the house of lords. this should be replaced by an elected panel from the electorate replaced annually.
House of so-called Lords is just another feeding trough for greedy unelected Westminster pigs to profit at our expense.
If Corbyn wants to reform the Lords, appointing foxes in the henhouse is far more likely to achieve this – Benn is a classic example of this.
first reform the house of commons. no ore that 200 and all mps salaries/costs paid by their constituencies. no mp to be proposed/elected by a party until they have reached the age of 45. then tackle the house of lords which should be non partisan.
LOL!
No more than 200 MPs? How does that reform Parliamentary democracy?