イギリス上院を米国上院風に改革する案

Plan to turn UK lords into US-style senators

By Alex Barker in London

Published: March 14 2010 19:40 | Last updated: March 14 2010 19:40

The UK House of Lords would be turned into a US-style elected Senate under a Labour election pledge to complete reforms of parliament promised for more than a century.

Ministers are to unveil a draft bill for a wholly-elected 300-seat upper chamber within two weeks in an attempt to wrongfoot the Conservative opposition, which backs a “mainly elected” Lords.

There may be a symbolic Commons vote on the plan before the general election, which will be in fewer than 50 days. Concrete changes could only be introduced under the next government and could take up to a decade or more to implement.

The overhaul would put an end to centuries of tradition, sweeping away relics of a culture that had been built around lords inheriting their seats, rather than campaigning for them.

Labour removed the bulk of the hereditary peers from the Lords in 1999, creating a chamber that is mainly filled by political nominees. Later attempts at reform stalled under fierce resistance from the Lords.

On Sunday Lord Adonis, the Labour transport secretary, said: “I think the time has now come to make it legitimate in the only way that a legislative assembly can be legitimate in the modern world, which is to be elected.”

Under the changes the 746 peers would be replaced by US-style senators, elected for fixed terms of up to 15 years. A third of peers would defend their seats in an election every five years.