THE INDEPENDENT: As you read this I am with statesmen and dignitaries from more than 100 countries at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. There are leaders from countries with a wide range of different democratic systems and almost overwhelmingly they are united by one belief: that the people who make the laws should be elected.
It seems bizarre to think that, in Britain in the 21st century, that should still be a controversial statement, and yet the majority of politicians in our own Parliament are not elected. They sit in the House of Lords, a body of appointed politicians that is growing at a startling rate and has no democratic mandate.
The Independent's revelations this week have shone an important light on the sometimes murky world of our second chamber and raised very serious questions. It should be stressed that the vast majority of peers obey the rules and that MPs, still tainted by the expenses scandal, need to be careful judging the behaviour of those in the Lords. But it does provide us with another opportunity to question why we think this is the best way to govern our country.
Lloyd George once described the House of Lords as being "a body of 500 men chosen at random from amongst the unemployed". In the years since he made that remark all that has really changed is the number – we are now pushing nearly 1,000 peers who get £300 tax-free a day just for turning up, more than half from the ranks of retired or failed politicians. For those retired MPs in the Lords, this amounts to a £1m top-up to their pensions. » | Nick Clegg | Thursday, June 21, 2012
