Base the House of Lords on an electoral college

BORIS Johnson’s political appointments to the House of Lords prove the institution will exist so long as the Prime Minister of the day can appoint their cronies to it.

In my view the House of Lords needs to be based on an electoral college, so regardless of how many members it has, each grouping of members only has a fixed share of the votes.

Political peers would be one grouping, independent crossbenchers another, bishops and other recognised religious leaders, as well as people with Queen’s Honours being a grouping.

While the total number of peers could be unlimited, the total number that can contribute each day should be capped so that only those who have registered expertise in a particular area get to speak when that is on the agenda, with it being possible for other peers to vote remotely or by proxy.

When self-governing, Llantrisant once played an important role in electing MPs, but when it lost its borough status it was no longer courted. The same would happen if the House of Lords became totally independent – the Prime Minister of the day would abolish it as it would serve them no benefit.

If the present PM wants a body to have oversight over devolved administrations he should give that power to the Lords and perhaps set up an English Parliament at the same time.

Cllr Jonathan Bishop Community councillor for Nantgarw

We have not been given a pay rise, unlike many others who have Mark Carroll Trowbridge