Labor To Abolish House Of Lords Scottish Party Leader Says Policy

Delivering a speech at Westminster, in which he also ruled out any deal or coalition with Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP), Anas Sarwar said: “A central part of Labour’s mission must be to renew democracy. “The House of Lords, in its current form, as an institution has no place in the politics of the 21st century. It is unacceptable, and has been for far too long, to have unelected representatives holding such power. “The House of Lords must be abolished and replaced with an institution that better reflects the composition and identity of the United Kingdom.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST He said this would mean an elected Senate, with more details set out in a report on former prime minister Gordon Brown’s constitutional reform due to be published later this year. Abolishing the House of Lords was in Labour’s 2019 manifesto and Keir Starmer has mentioned it to his party leadership. but when asked about it last November, he appeared to shy away from the idea, saying only that the Lords “need a change”. However, Sarwar made it clear that Starmer was fully on board with the plan. The idea of ​​a Senate of nations and regions, which also appeared in Labor’s manifesto under Ed Miliband, would have elected representatives for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions. Tony Blair’s government has struck a deal to remove most hereditary peers from the House of Lords – although 92 remain, elected by their peers. Labour’s plans for wider reform faced fierce opposition and were eventually shelved. As well as overhauling the second chamber, Sarwar also announced Labour’s plans for changes to the way devolution works, with a new duty for the Westminster government to work together on cross-cutting issues. He flatly rejected Sturgeon’s intention to treat the next general election as a “proxy referendum” on independence, complaining that the reassuring figure of the “Nicola pandemic” had been replaced by “the partisan Nicola Sturgeon who wants to pit Scot against Scot for her own obsession. “. Labor overtook the Conservatives to come second in May’s local elections as Sarwar seeks to rebuild what he calls “the first red wall to fall” in Scotland. On the possibility of a deal with the SNP, which the Tories are expected to focus on at the next election, warning as they did in 2010 of a “coalition of chaos”, Mr Sarwar said: “Labour will not do any deal with the SNP. “No deal. No pact. No arrangement behind closed doors. No coalition. In the next election, we will fight for every vote and aim to form a majority Labor government. If we fail to do so and are able to form a minority government, the SNP will face a simple choice. “He can choose to keep the Tories in power or he can choose to support a Labor government. And I dare Nicola Sturgeon to back the Tories and bring them back to power and see how Scotland reacts.”

title: “Labor To Abolish House Of Lords Scottish Party Leader Says Policy " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “James Jervey”

Delivering a speech at Westminster, in which he also ruled out any deal or coalition with Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP), Anas Sarwar said: “A central part of Labour’s mission must be to renew democracy. “The House of Lords, in its current form, as an institution has no place in the politics of the 21st century. It is unacceptable, and has been for far too long, to have unelected representatives holding such power. “The House of Lords must be abolished and replaced with an institution that better reflects the composition and identity of the United Kingdom.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST He said this would mean an elected Senate, with more details set out in a report on former prime minister Gordon Brown’s constitutional reform due to be published later this year. Abolishing the House of Lords was in Labour’s 2019 manifesto and Keir Starmer has mentioned it to his party leadership. but when asked about it last November, he appeared to shy away from the idea, saying only that the Lords “need a change”. However, Sarwar made it clear that Starmer was fully on board with the plan. The idea of ​​a Senate of nations and regions, which also appeared in Labor’s manifesto under Ed Miliband, would have elected representatives for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions. Tony Blair’s government has struck a deal to remove most hereditary peers from the House of Lords – although 92 remain, elected by their peers. Labour’s plans for wider reform faced fierce opposition and were eventually shelved. As well as overhauling the second chamber, Sarwar also announced Labour’s plans for changes to the way devolution works, with a new duty for the Westminster government to work together on cross-cutting issues. He flatly rejected Sturgeon’s intention to treat the next general election as a “proxy referendum” on independence, complaining that the reassuring figure of the “Nicola pandemic” had been replaced by “the partisan Nicola Sturgeon who wants to pit Scot against Scot for her own obsession. “. Labor overtook the Conservatives to come second in May’s local elections as Sarwar seeks to rebuild what he calls “the first red wall to fall” in Scotland. On the possibility of a deal with the SNP, which the Tories are expected to focus on at the next election, warning as they did in 2010 of a “coalition of chaos”, Mr Sarwar said: “Labour will not do any deal with the SNP. “No deal. No pact. No arrangement behind closed doors. No coalition. In the next election, we will fight for every vote and aim to form a majority Labor government. If we fail to do so and are able to form a minority government, the SNP will face a simple choice. “He can choose to keep the Tories in power or he can choose to support a Labor government. And I dare Nicola Sturgeon to back the Tories and bring them back to power and see how Scotland reacts.”