A thought on House of Lords reform in light of this announcement…

Labour MP Howard Stoate has said he will quit at the next election because new second jobs rules mean he will no longer be able to practise as a GP.

He said he believed the change would “diminish” his work as an MP.

Previous discussions about reform of the House of Lords, and making it elected, led to concerns over creating a “replica” House.

So what if the upper House was elected, but not comprised of full-time members? In other words it was designed to be a citizen legislature, and not a place for failed politicians, or appointed cronies? Members would continue to have outside occupations, and so bring their real-world expertise into the House, in contrast to the professional politicians in the House of Commons.

Due to their ‘part time’ nature, they could be large in number, representing constituencies similar to those which exist at present. The House of Commons, by contrast, could be slimmed down to perhaps 250 or 300.

Ideally, along with with such a reform, the Executive ought to be separate and independently elected, with ministers prevented from holding a seat in the legislature. This would remove the large numbers of legislators on the Executive payroll, and allow legislators to legislate and the Executive to govern with no (well…) conflict of interest.

Just a thought. Discuss below. I am sure I’ll re-visit this in the near future.