| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| Blair paves way for elected House of Lords |
| 2005-04-12 |
| British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to pave the way for an elected House of Lords by allowing a free vote on the issue in a third term. Cabinet ministers have been pressuring Blair for reform of Parliament's upper chamber, currently composed of hereditary and appointed peers and bishops. They say the House of Commons will agree between 50 percent and 80 percent of the Lords should be elected by the public. Blair found himself in a minority on the issue when the Cabinet discussed Labor's election manifesto, the Independent reports. A pledge for a free vote will now be included in the manifesto, to be released Wednesday, alongside a promise to strip the remaining 92 hereditary peers of their right to sit and vote in the chamber. The sensitive issue of the Lords' powers to challenge the decisions of the fully elected House of Commons will also be addressed. The manifesto will propose to dilute the ability of the Lords to delay legislation. The Labor document will also leave the possibility of electoral reform open, pledging a review of the first-past-the-post voting system for the House of Commons. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 "We won't have any of remaking the nation to ensure your party stays in power and wins every vote regardless of what other think is best for the nation." Unless, of course, you live in Washington, or Wisconsin, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, or Detroit... It almost happened in Florida in 2000, and did in St. Louis. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-04-12 9:43:00 PM |
| #1 I am glad we have a constitution here. We won't have any of remaking the nation to ensure your party stays in power and wins every vote regardless of what other think is best for the nation. The repeal of double jeopardy so |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-12 6:53:33 PM |