By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said Justice Secretary Jack Straw will set out proposals ‘very shortly’.
Mr Straw is understood to have been consulting Cabinet colleagues on the shake-up which would see the Lords become a wholly elected, 300-seat chamber.
Lord Adonis said this morning that Labour’s plans for the Lords had ‘moved on a stage’.
‘I think the time has now come to make it legitimate in the only way a legislative assembly can be legitimate in the modern world which is to be elected,’ he told the BBC.
‘Jack Straw will set out proposals very shortly. There will be firm proposals in our manifesto for an elected HL. they build on the big changes we have already made.’
The proposals are likely to be popular with Labour’s core support, while David Cameron may come under pressure from Tory peers who resolutely oppose such reforms.
The Government’s blueprint would see all members directly elected, ending the tradition of party patronage.
A proportional representation system would be used to select members, with voting taking place at the same time as General Elections.
One third of the new chamber would be elected on each occasion, with members serving three terms – up to 15 years – in a system similar to the one used to choose members of the US Senate.
The new ‘peers’ could also be subject to a US-style ‘recall ballot’ which would disqualify them for incompetence. In the event of death, members would be replaced without the need for by-elections under some sort of ‘best loser’
The legislators would be paid a salary which has yet to be fixed, but it would almost certainly be less than the £65,000 currently paid to backbench MPs, according to details leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.
There would be a ‘consultation’ on the name of the new chamber – almost definitely putting paid to any chances of retaining the designation ‘House of Lords’, which has been in use since the 14th Century. The favourite for the new name would be likely to be The Senate.
The remaining 92 hereditary peers would also be swept away under the proposed reforms.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘We plan to come forward with proposals on Lords reform in the weeks ahead.’
www.dailymail.co.uk, 14th March 2010
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