Our Worst Enemy and Our Best Friend

The House of Lords is an undemocratic and archaic institution. The 788 members of the house were never voted in by any member of the public. They are either in there because one of their descendants helped beat up some peasants a few hundred years ago, or because a Prime Minister has decided to put them in there. How in the 21^st Century is this acceptable? How in a ‘democratic’ country can we have a completely unelected upper house that has the power to override the decisions of the elected lower house? The House of Lords is Britain’s stumbling block, yet in rare cases it is sometimes the only voice of the people in government.

The coalition government is currently trying to pass the ‘Health and Social Care Bill’ through the House of Lords. This bill would completely wreck the NHS; making the NHS easier to privatise and putting more pressure on GP’s. This bill would effectively ruin the NHS, allowing the coalition to privatise our health service. Yet a faction in the House of Lords is determined to stop the bill; the same bill The House of Commons has already passed. A group of Liberal Democrat Lords and crossbenchers have ignored the government because they know they are wrong. They understand the NHS is at the heart of British society and refuse to start its demise. In this case the House of Lords has served its function; to stop the lower house when it is wrong. The House of Commons has ignored the will of the people, and in this case, the Lords are stepping in to stop this. Hopefully the Lords will stop the bill, but realistically once a bill has passed the Commons it tends to pass through the Lords.But they will not back down. This group is determined to stop the NHS from being destroyed by the coalition.

But why are the Lords suddenly caring about what the public say, when they themselves do not have to answer to the public. Maybe the Lords is aware of its own demise. How much longer can an undemocratic house last for? The public demand reform of the political system, meaning sooner or later a government will be forced to reform the Lords. What better way to go out that with one last swan song; a valiant battle for democracy and the people. However, no matter how valiantly they fight, the Lords is still an institution that must be destroyed. A Britain with an elected upper house would be fairer and more democratic. Other countries with democratic houses show that, because both houses have to face the judgement of the public, they both try to represent the people. They keep each other in check and when one house fails to represent the people, the other steps in to stop them. The House of Lords occasionally protects the people, but an elected upper house would always have this at their heart.