This Report is a bitter disappointment to everyone wanting the transformation of the House into a modern, democratic legislative body, Instead the recommendation is that the composition and method of selection remain almost unchanged. The only positive development advocated is the end to a link between the honours system (ie a peerage) and membership of the second chamber. The main points of the Report are as follows:

No change in function; minor change in composition and possible change in name, if the new second chamber wants it. The latter (Recommendation 128) is a complete abdication of responsibility on the part of the Royal Commission. Recommendation 127 states that the new second chamber should not be composed of peers as such; therefore the name "House of Lords" must be altered because It will misrepresent the nature of the membership. The Commission, however, falls to decide the name of new second chamber or the title of its members!

The main defect of the Report is Recommendation 68 that the majority of the new second chamber remain placemen and women. (it states that each sex must constitute at least one third of the total of appointees - Recommendation 70-f). Instead of being life peers created by the Prime Minister, they would be establishment figures nominated by an Independent Appointments Commission. In other words a committee of civil servants would select safe "worthies" of the "Justice of the Peace" type. Such people can be guaranteed to be bereft of any innovative ideas and ensure a somnambulant second chamber which adds nothing to the legislative process. In addition the Royal Commission wants to retain Church of England representation in the new second chamber, but supplement It by representatives of other faiths. (Recommendation 108). The Anglicans would get 16 out of the 21 Christian appointments for England . In other words the sectarian privilege of the established church would be maintained., with a token five places being given to representatives of other Christian denominations. (Recommendation 111).

There would also be five representatives of Christian churches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Recommendation 110) plus another five of non-Christian faiths in the United Kingdom (Recommendation 109). The small size of its active congregation (less than a million worshippers) does not justify the assigning of the great majority of sectarian seats to the Church of England.

Such sectarian representation is unique in Europe and the American continent. It represents the worst features of communal religious representation of the type Introduced by the British raj in India, which provoked sectarian political activity instead of lessening it. The Appointments Commission will become embroiled in religious controversy, through having to appoint the non-Church of England representatives, thus laying itself open to charges of favouritism to particular groups and persons. Britain should be a integrated, democratic, secular society, not a divided sectarian one.

Another glaring error is the Royal Commission's double negative statement "There is no reason why the second chamber should not continue to exercise the judicial functions of the present House of Lords" (Recommendation 56). This begs the question of whether there is any reason why it should! The reasons given in Paragraph 9.6 are far outweighed by the disadvantage ie the violation of the fundamental democratic principle of the separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary. The Law Lords, as serving judges, should not participate in any legislative debates, otherwise the political neutrality of the judiciary is compromised. This is why in all democracies serving judges are prohibited from being candidates for any legislature. By the same token, a parliamentary chamber should not exercise the functions of a Court of Law. This may breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Commission cannot agree on the number of elected members of the new Second Chamber (see: Recommendation 76) Instead it is merely unanimous in the mistaken contention that they should constitute a clear minority, thereby making the United Kingdom the only country in the whole continent of Europe to have a predominantly nominated legislative chamber. In addition the Commission prescribes the Party List system of election for the minority, thereby precluding members of political parties from selecting their own individual candidates.

Edward Goodman

(A House for the Future is available on the Internet at:
www.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm45/4534/4534.htm)