By Philippa Silverman - 16th May 2011
A lottery to reduce the number of peers is an "absurd suggestion", the Leader of the House of Lords has said.
Lord Strathclyde ruled out the newspaper reports that lotteries within party groups would be used to reduce the number of peers to make way for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is due to publish a white paper tomorrow that will set out plans for cutting the number of second chamber seats to 300 by 2015, half the current level of 789 peers.
During oral questions, crossbench peer Lord Kakkar pressed the government on the primacy of the Commons if the House of Lords is replaced by an elected chamber.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean asked the Lords leader: "Will you take this opportunity to denounce the ludicrous reports that have appeared in the press that the size of this chamber could be reduced by holding some kind of lottery?
"Is that not insulting to this chamber and its members?"
In response, Lord Strathclyde said: "I dare say that I ought to say I can't pre-empt a statement by the deputy prime minister, but I think on this occasion that I am prepared to confirm it is an absurd suggestion and will not appear in the white paper."
Labour shadow leader of the Lords Baroness Royall noted that should there be any changes for proposals to the composition of the chamber, conventions between the two houses would have to be amended.
In response, Lord Strathclyde said his own view is that in the long term, if the composition of the House were to change, "the conventions might change between this House and another place but there is no reason why they should".
He added: "That will be up to decisions taken by the members of either House."
Fellow Labour peer Lord Grocott said the "overwhelming voice" of the British people had been expressed in the AV referendum and that the public do not want money spent on constitutional change.
He said two precious commodities, "time and money" would be saved if the government did not go forward with the proposals.
The Lords leader replied: "It is always useful and helpful to have some advice from the noble Lord, who was a member of the government who published several White Papers on this subject in their period in office - we hope to publish only one."
Other questions focused on revenue received by commercial broadcasters from product placement, the UK's contribution to the EU budget and proposed Palestinian statehood declaration.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.