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Dialogue: ESU Reform Club Debate

dialoguereformThis article was published on Tuesday 12 July 2011

On 5 July, in the historical setting of the Reform Club Library, the ESU Reform Club debate took place under the motion This House Believes it is time to reform the Lords.

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To a packed audience, the eminent panellists included The Lord Watson of Richmond, The Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng and ESU alumni Tara Mounce and Dr James Dray. Chairing the debate was Professor Brian Holden-Reid, Chairman of the Reform Club Political Committee.

Opening for the proposition, The Lord Watson of Richmond stated that despite being sceptical of the idea of reformation and a “hybrid” House of Lords which would be “fundamentally unworkable and nonsense”, some degree of reform was necessary to coincide with the current “tectonic shift” occurring in UK politics. Such reform, he argued, should be introduced “seriously, strategically and realistically”.

Opening for the opposition, Dr James Dray rebutted and stated that there was “nothing undemocratic about an unelected second chamber”. The role of the House of Lords, James argued, was simply to “guide, cajole and amend” the law; a role which would not change even if Peers were elected democratically.

Tara Mounce, seconding the motion, called the House of Lords “illegitimate” and pleaded for a “mandate of power” to be given to Peers. A reformed House of Lords would, Tara stated, be more representative, more democratic and more effective in its role as a governing political body.

Opposing the motion, The Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng accused it of being nothing more than a “threat” to the preservation of the House of Lords and pleaded with the audience to realise that all that was actually on offer was a partially elected house, the role of which was uncertain, unclear and nothing more than a “political totem-pole”.