Lib Dems ‘face Lords musical chairs’
PROPOSALS to reduce the size of the House of Lords could leave Liberal Democrat peers competing against each other in a situation akin to “musical chairs”, parliamentary sources say.
On Tuesday an official committee is expected to set out recommendations to slim down the upper chamber of Parliament, including 15-year terms for new peers and stipulations that the main parties reduce their current co- horts by a quarter. The Sunday Telegraph understands that the voluntary reductions by the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and group of crossbench peers will be carried out in two stages, with targets set for 2022 and 2027. Lord Fowler, the Lord Speaker, who commissioned the review, wants the size of the House to be reduced from 800 peers to “just less” than the number of MPs – currently 650.
Around one in six Tory and Labour peers are aged 80 and older, with decades of experience in the House, mak- ing it more likely that they will volunteer to leave. But the Lib Dems’ cohort is significantly younger, with only one in 15 aged over 80.
The overall relative youth and parliamentary inexperience of the Lib Dems’ now 100-strong group comes as a result of the influx of new peers after the party formed a coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. “The Liberal Democrats are a much younger cohort in Lords terms,” a parliamentary source said. “This legacy of the Cameron era is a problem for them. There could be a musical chairs-style battle to decide who goes.”
Lord Paddick, a Lib Dem whip, said: “It does make it more difficult, in that, even if you don’t take age into account, the amount of time Liberal Democrats have served tends to be a lot shorter. That makes the decisions more difficult for the Lib Dems in terms of who they are going to get rid of.”
Lord Paddick, who is his party’s home affairs spokesman, said the Lib Dem leadership should take a “rounded” view of the substance of peers’ parliamentary activities when decisions are taken over who will have to give up their position.
“We need to look at the quality and relevance of contributions – not just at whether someone is a former doctor or police officer, but how they have kept themselves up to date with recent developments, he said. “If people have not either served on a select committee or spoken in the chamber they would have to come up with some pretty compelling reasons why they should continue to be a member of the House.”