Failure to reform House of Lords is good news for the independence movement

The Labour Party has often promised to abolish the House of Lords  - but last month it changed its tune and made 30 new peers. 

These individuals - who in many cases have been recently rejected at the ballot box by voters - now get to make laws for the rest of their lives. 

Now even the UK government’s very modest plans to get rid of the almost 100 hereditary peers who still sit in the Lords, and to cut the number of members from a swollen 800 to more than 400 look set to bite the dust.  

Peers plan to oppose the plans and there will be some kind of compromise which falls far short of meaningful reform.

This is all good news for the independence movement. 

Most democratic countries with a second chamber use it to balance out the representation of the nations and regions that make up their state. For instance in Canada, Quebec has 24 seats in a 105-member Senate. That means the Quebecois generally feel they have fair representation and a strong voice in Canada’s legislature. 

The UK Parliament is very different. There are about 1450 members of the UK Parliament. More than 800 of them are in the House of ‘Lords’. Scotland holds just 3% of seats in the UK Parliament. 

More than half the “Lords” live in London or the south of England and many are dubious characters with no clear reason to be there.  A freedom of information request last month uncovered that no legitimate reasons were given why Boris Johnson’s tennis partner Ross Kempsell and short-term SPAD Charlotte Owens got elevated. 

Other ‘Lords’ include ‘Lord’ Evgeny Lebedev, bankrolled by his KGB father and ‘Lord’ Peter Cruddas. Documentaries on both Channel Five and the BBC reveal how ‘Lady’ Michelle Mone used her access to power through being a member of the House of Lords to get contracts to sell PPE and enrich herself and her family as a result. 

The UK is blithely ignoring warnings from prominent Unionists 

Former British PM Gordon Brown was tasked with a plan to save the Union. He concluded the way to avoid Scottish independence was to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected "Senate of the Nations and Regions".

"We have got to fundamentally change if we are going to make people feel comfortable within the United Kingdom in the future," he said.

In his best-selling book “How Britain Ends”, Gavin Esler argues that if England was serious about maintaining the Union, it would certainly abolish the House of Lords. The fact that it is not willing to do so tells its own story. 

In a column entitled “Labour must scrap the House of Lords to save the Union” in the Times last week, commentator Alexander Walker noted: “Two years ago, Sir Keir Starmer stood on stage with Gordon Brown to support his proposal to turn the Lords into an elected chamber. However, Starmer quietly backtracked and offered no commitment in his manifesto. Why commit to empowering scrutiny when you’re about to take all the power?

He added of the peers: “Gifted with ancient titles, voting rights and allowances for life, there is probably no other group less likely to challenge the people or system that created them.”

The impact on Scotland is very real

Scots have been slapped down by the UK’s Supreme Court who said the Scottish Parliament can’t call another independence referendum.

The reason they gave was that “democratic sovereignty” for Scotland lies with Westminster. 

Democratic? An institution where more than half of the members are there by opaque appointment? 

More than half of Scots think the Scottish Parliament should decide when to hold another independence referendum. Yet Westminster holds the power to countermand the Scottish parliament’s ability to do that. 

Independence supporters can only hope that in the long term, this position will lead to a backlash against Westminster and increased support for independence.  

Conclusion

The UK government has been repeatedly warned that the price of maintaining the Union with Scotland is meaningful reform of the House of Lords.

But they can’t do that because the UK’s elected representatives don’t care enough about maintaining the Union with Scotland. They would rather retain the House of Lords. Scotland and Westminster should go their separate ways and develop democratic institutions that reflect the wishes of the people.

22,000 others have already pledged their support, because only a non-party-political independence campaign can move independence support to the levels we need to win our independence. We Believe in Scotland – Join us!