Unlock Democracy welcomes Jack Straw's pledge to press ahead with Lords reform

8.43.17pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th Jun 2007

Welcoming Jack Straw's assurance that he is "determined to proceed" with Lords reform when giving evidence to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee this afternoon, director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said:

"We appreciate that completing reform before the General Election will be extremely difficult and thus welcome Mr Straw's announcement that he is determined to proceed. However, the Government must publish the timetable for the reform process soon.

"The House of Commons vote in March was green light for the Government to proceed: there is broad agreement on the principles of reform, it is just the details that have to be worked out. But if we are to make real progress on this issue then proposals must be brought forward and Parliament must have a chance to debate - and vote - on them. If the Government is serious about reform, it must publish a Bill and allow time for it to be debated in the House of Commons before the election; otherwise we will be stuck in the same phony debate that Parliament has been having for 100 years.

"It should be remembered that Lord Falconer pledged just before the last General Election that the Government would reform the House of Lords 'once and for all… early in a third term'. While it is futile to bemoan the fact that progress has not has been as swift as we would have liked, it would be ruinous to Labour's credibility if they went into the next General Election having made so little progress."

Related Links:

BBC Coverage.

ePolitix: Falconer pledges third term Lords reform (September 2004).