'Ridiculous' House of Lords must be reformed, Andrew Pierce insists

27 December 2020, 12:59

Andrew Pierce calls for the Lords to be revolutionised

By Seán Hickey

Andrew Pierce lists out the flaws he sees in the current operating of the House of Lords and called for reform, or for the house to be abolished.

As the PM's nominations for the House of Lords are set to take up their seats in the coming weeks and months, with incoming peers such as the Prime Minister's brother Jo Johnson being at the centre of controversy.

Andrew argued that it's time to reform the upper chamber: "Let's have an elected second chamber, boot out the cronies, the donors, there's a lot of them."

He added that the 814 peers in the house make it one of the highest amounts of representatives in the world, coming close to the Chinese parliament which represents over 1 billion people.

"It's faintly ridiculous," he insisted.

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Calls to reform the House of Lords have grown recently
Calls to reform the House of Lords have grown recently. Picture: PA

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"The US senate...is 100 strong and they've got a population of over 320 million. We've a population of 64 million and we've stuffed the house full."

Andrew added that some members of the house are well into their 90s. "Don't they ever want to retire?" He wondered. He hinted that because of the £300-plus daily allowance, some peers don't want to retire.

"Time to change the House of Lords? I think it is."