NO - Keep the House of Lords (Should the House of Lords be abolished?)

Member Name: jpegington

Product:	Should the House of Lords be abolished?
Date:	05/05/07 (623 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It works as a good counter balance to the House of Commons

Disadvantages: None

The House of Lords is in my opinion a necessary tool that is a very useful counterpart to the House of Commons.

Take into account the issue mentioned above in regards to the House of Lords: The issue of Fox Hunting and other measures that the Labour party has pushed through the House of Commons due to their large majority can only be stopped by a second house that is independent and not politically motivated. Bear in mind that not all of the UK is against Fox Hunting (in actual fact I would put the figures at a rough guess at about 20% against, 20% For and around 60% indifferent who have not really thought about it. Therefore a second house that can consider items raised and can look at their impact upon this country without so much political thought is surely a good thing.

YES I understand about the problems of unelected peers being able to veto decisions and also the issue of heriditary peers are two crucial thoughts in regards to the House of Lords.

Lets think about the issue of Heriditary peers first. I personally think that this is in parts possibly a better idea than peers which have been given a peerage by political parties in order to get the House of Lords to vote in a way that the current political party wants them to vote. At least before we had a number of peers who were fairly independant and would vote with their thoughts and not just on party issues.

Lets also consider the issue of unelected peers. This is still the case currently as only the political party that is in power decides who gets elected into the House of Lords. I would love to see the house of lords continue with unelected peers who come from various backgrounds which make them knowledgeable in various fields. We should have ex judges who make good decisions in their court time and ex doctors and ex businessmen. This should allow the House of Lords to be a good countermeasure to the House of Commons and be representative of the countries opinions.

We must have some sort of second opinion and countermeasure to the House of Commons so I say that we should not abolish the House of Lords and ensure that it stays at least in part without political pressure and therefore be a good balance of power to the House of Commons.

Summary: Keep the House of Lords