CRONIES & CROOKS
13 NEW Lords to cost £1m – as poll shows voters think House is already too big
ALMOST three in four voters polled for the Daily Mail said Britain’s second chamber is too big – as it emerged new peers appointed last week will cost taxpayers more than £1million a year.
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn faced criticism after slipping out a list of 13 new members of the house of lords on the eve of the royal wedding.
The appointments by the Prime Minister and the labour leader are likely to add £1,079,000 to the annual £68million bill for running the lords, according to analysis by the electoral reform society (ers) published yesterday.
Peers can claim travel expenses on top of a £305-a- day living allowance just for turning up.
The revelation will add to anger over the addition of new peers to a legislature that is already the largest parliamentary chamber in any democracy, with 780 members – and is second only to the National People’s Congress in communist China.
exclusive polling for the Mail today reveals widespread public concern about the size of the lords. some 73 per cent of those surveyed said the Upper house was too big, with only 7 per cent disagreeing.
Four in five said the lords should have its membership capped, with peers who do not meaningfully contribute booted out.
all parties have paid lip service to the need to control the lords.
But at 5pm on Friday, with the news dominated by the build-up to the royal wedding, Downing street slipped out the announcement that 13 new political peers were being created.
Darren hughes of the ers, which is campaigning for reform of the lords, described the appointments as ‘an insult to voters’, adding: ‘This has now gone beyond a joke. Time and time again the Government talks about reducing the cost of politics. Yet at the same time they’re packing the Upper house with former MPs and retired party hacks.
‘If Mrs May was serious about reducing the cost of politics, she would halt these appointments rather than providing yet more fuel for public concern about cronyism. It is an insult to voters.’ The party leaders also faced criticism over their choices for new peers.
The Prime Minister appointed close friend Catherine Meyer and seven former Tory MPs.
No 10 has said Mrs May will show ‘restraint’ in appointing new peers, but reserves the right to make appointments in order to ‘refresh’ the lords. however, critics pointed out that one of her new peers, sir alan haselhurst, will turn 81 next month.
another new Tory peer andrew Tyrie yesterday resigned the party whip, saying he would sit as an independent. The decision is thought to be linked to his role as head of the Competition and Markets authority. Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn, who once pledged he would never appoint any peers, ennobled two personal friends – veteran left-wing activists Martha Osamor and Pauline Bryan.
The labour leader also handed a peerage to former union official Iain McNicol, who served as the party’s general secretary.
Miss Osamor, mother of labour’s shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor, was barred from standing for labour in the 1980s because of her hard-left views.
Mr Corbyn faced a backlash after it emerged that Miss Osamor, who is in her late seventies, had recently signed a letter protesting over the suspensions of party members for alleged anti-semitism – including Ken livingstone, who resigned from labour on Monday over his claims that hitler had supported Zionism in the 1930s.
Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign against anti-semitism, described Miss Osamor’s appointment as a ‘two-fingered salute’ to the Jewish community.
‘Beyond a joke’