Should we do away with the House of Lords?

A LONG time ago, serving the community and the wider public was considered an honour. People volunteered without financial reward. Take away the £300 the Lords get every day, just to turn up. Take away the subsidised meals and drinks. Then let us see how many of them bother to turn up!

R. MACDONALD, Sunderland.

The Old Pals Westminster club, known as the unelected house of Lords, are interfering in elected MPs’ policy and are on borrowed time. The public are fed up with unelected busybodies poking their noses into elected government matters. This is not a democracy and the Lords should be abolished. This is a part-dictatorship when unelected bishops can also join the Old Pals and out-dated do-gooders and cost the taxpayers a fortune, with dictats and policy objections. Close the Lords down completely.

WILLIAM FOOTES, Birmingham.

ISN’T it about time the Government let the people decide the fate of the house of Lords in a referendum? These unelected people rule over the British government laws — they shouldn’t be allowed to interfere as the public didn’t elect them. Let’s put it to the vote and see what the electorate want to happen.

MR C SMITH, Macclesfield, cheshire.

WHILE i understand that we can’t dispense with the house of Lords as it stands overnight, is it not about time that the number of seats matched the number within the elected houses of Parliament? With 650 elected seats in the lower house there are an extra 133 seats in the un-elected upper house. This inequality makes fair Government impossible. The two houses should have the same number of seats to ensure a just situation regarding legislation.

BRIAN SWEETING, Newton Abbot, Devon.