DINOSAURS IN ERMINE

Devastating Mail poll reveals voters think Lords is outdated and out of touch – while a third of Scots want it scrapped entirely

PUBLIC fury with the House of Lords is laid bare today by an exclusive Mail poll.

Delivering a damning verdict of no confidence in the Upper House, the survey reveals that 76 per cent of voters feel peers are ‘out of tune with the will of the British people’.

Even more said the Lords is an ‘outdated throwback’. Fifty-eight per cent of voters believe peers would be wrong to try to thwart Brexit, with only 19 per cent thinking they should do so.

The poll shows there is strong support for reform – only 17 per cent said the institution should be left untouched.

More than a third of Scots voters said the Lords should be scrapped altogether. The poll also found that:

Seven in ten voters believe that there should be fewer peers than the present total of 780;

Eight in ten said too many in the Upper House were cronies or failed politicians;

Older voters were more hostile toward the House of Lords than the young;

The £305 daily allowance for peers also proved highly unpopular in the poll by ComRes/We, The People.

Reacting to the survey, Iain Duncan Smith said voters were outraged by peers repeatedly amending key Brexit

legislation. ‘The Lords have behaved appallingly in the last few weeks,’ he said. ‘They have completely defied the views of the elected Commons, ignored the manifesto of the governing party and set out to oppose the referendum vote expressing the will of the British people.

‘They have done this brazenly and in doing so they have been arrogant and rude.

‘The Lords should see these findings as a warning to them, although I think it may be too late. I am appalled by their behaviour and I would like to see the promise of action in our manifesto.’

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, added: ‘These findings show the British electorate understand the constitutional conventions better than some in Parliament and know they have been broken by the House of Lords.

‘The Lords thought they could frustrate Brexit in the twilight, but they have been busted by the electorate, who can see exactly what they are up to. They have weakened the Lords – the Lords are quite vulnerable now.

‘There has been tolerance of the Lords because it was there and because it worked.

‘But it is there under sufferance and there is no large advocacy body campaigning for it.

‘If it breaks conventions and ceases to work, as it has done recently, then it becomes very difficult to defend and makes it easier for the House of Commons to reform.’

Last night Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged the Lords to back down over Brexit.

He said: ‘The important thing is that the House of Commons has the final legislative say and the Lords know that and must accept that.’

Asked whether the Lords had overstepped the mark, Prime Minister Theresa May said earlier this week: ‘Parliament as a whole gave the British people the choice of whether to stay in the EU or to leave it.

‘The people voted and I think it is incumbent on all of us to recognise that we have a duty to put into place the result of that vote and to ensure that the UK leaves the European Union.’

Peers have inflicted 15 separate defeats on the Government’s flagship EU Withdrawal Bill in recent weeks, including changes designed to keep the UK in the single marment – or even prevent the UK leaving at all. They have also defied long-standing conventions that the Lords should reflect manifesto commitments of the governing party.

In a series of votes on Brexit and Press regulation, peers have simply ignored Tory manifesto commitments and voted to frustrate the Government, which does not have a majority in the Lords.

Last night Patrick Barrow, of We, The People, said: ‘The polling results are very clear. The British people took back sovereignty for the UK Parliament, the House of Lords seems determined to make sure it’s sent back to Europe.

‘The Other Place needs to understand, and quickly, that if they are to be a relevant part of a modern, representative democracy, it’s past time they began to represent not their own preoccupations but the ballot box view of the people of Britain.’

The findings follow the Lords’ extraordinary treatket of the EU Withdrawal Bill. Privately, ministers believe the Lords have overstepped the mark by voting through amendments that would tie Mrs May’s hands in her negotiations with Brussels over Brexit.

Some pro-Remain peers have also faced accusations of extraordinary arrogance after vowing to block the referendum result and mocking the decision to leave.

Lib Dem peer Lord Roberts of Llandudno sparked fury by likening the legislation to the Nazi enabling act which handed supreme power to Adolf Hitler.

Crossbench peer Lord Bilimoria vowed to ‘stop the train wreck’ of Brexit.

Viscount Haiilsham, who as Douglas Hogg was the poster boy of the expenses scandal after trying to claim taxpayers’ money to clear his moat, described the poll result as an ‘interim decision’.

And former Labour cabinet minister Lord Adonis has vowed to ‘sabotage’ Brexit. Comment – Page 16