On 19^th July 2007, Jack Straw, the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, made an important statement on Lords reform in the House of Commons. Jack Straw, who had responsibility for Lords reform before the recent Government reshuffle as Leader of the House of Commons, has retained that responsibility as Justice Minister. Crucially for the Campaign for a Democratic Upper House, the Government, Jack Straw said, are “determined to proceed with this programme of reform with a view to its completion”.

Damien Welfare, Co-ordinator of CDUH, commenting on the statement said:

“The Campaign for a Democratic Upper House welcomes the substance of Mr Straw’s statement. We would have preferred though to see faster progress towards the introduction of legislation for a reformed second chamber”

“Jack Straw has indicated that the Labour party should move towards a clear manifesto commitment to assist the passage of legislation. We welcome this and will campaign to ensure that Labour’s historical commitment to reforming the House of Lords is finally fulfilled. We will campaign to have a clear and unambiguous commitment to securing this reform as early as possible agreed and written into the next Labour Party election manifesto”

The statement from Jack Straw followed further cross-party talks in the light of the votes in the Commons on 7^th March 2007 in favour of a second chamber which was 80% or 100% elected. In his statement on constitutional reform on 3^rd July 2007, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had said that the Government should proceed in line with the wishes of the House of Commons.

Jack Straw said that over the coming months the Government would look at “how best to deliver a substantially or wholly elected second chamber”, based on a House which was 80% or 100% elected. The cross-party talks would continue and look at all aspects of a reform package. Jack Straw also intends to make arrangements so that the Government can take account of the views of Parliamentarians, interest groups and the public; the Campaign for a Democratic Upper House intends to utilise this opportunity fully.

The next steps are intended to be a further White Paper around the turn of the year, possibly accompanied by draft clauses forming elements of the final reform Bill. The Government intends to formulate a “comprehensive reform package” that Labour will put to the electorate as a manifesto commitment at the next General Election, and which it is hoped the other main parties would also include in their manifestoes.

Jack Straw said that he wanted to make clear progress, so that “in the first session of the new Parliament, we can introduce a final measure”. The Campaign for a Democratic Upper House will campaign to make this promise a reality.

Join us and help build the campaign in your CLP, your Trades Union, your Labour Council and in our Labour party!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.