Readers’ Letters: Time to abolish House of Lords

I’m fairly confident that many Evening Express readers, like myself, would gladly welcome the abolition of the House of Lords.

Alternatively, would a significant reduction in members be acceptable?

Here we currently have around 800 unelected members, many of whom “milk the system” with average tax-free payments of around £31,000 for their annual attendance period covered (around six months of the year).

The daily attendance allowance is £323, which is also tax-free but to qualify there is a minimum time with conditions in place whereby they must be present at each sitting. Some of them, however, manage to claim more than the net income of ordinary MPs and some never raise any business matters at all.

Some of them may even doze off during proceedings!

The pandemic has made the word virtual commonplace, but what sort of public backlash would there be if Lords members pushed for virtual attendance allowances attendances in the Upper House?

Despite there being previous pledges to reduce the number within the House, there will shortly be a record number of around 830 ermine-coated persons strutting around thinking how wonderful life is.

Do we really need more than 800 supervisors monitoring around 650 constituency MPs from around the United Kingdom or, conversely, do we really need the House of Lords at all in this day and age?

The 1999 House of Lords Act vastly reduced the number of peers from just over 1,300 to 699.

Let’s have another Act sooner rather than later and resolve the matter once and for all.

I wouldn’t go as far as to describe them as “vermin in ermine” as one Westminster SNP MP once did, but reform is long overdue in my opinion.

TF.

Refusal to accept result

RE your letter from reader Dennis Fitzgerald ‘Don’t Be A Bad Loser, Donald’

I’m not a supporter or fan of him, but his opponents have spent the entire first term refusing to accept the fact Clinton lost.

Now they’re moaning over him exploiting a broken tax system they all presided over. Bizarre.

MG.

Lanes error

Driving along the beach for the first time since new cycle lanes were put in, I saw for myself the utter disaster ACC has put in place.

I pray they will be big enough to admit they’ve made a terrible mistake and remove them ASAP. It’s ugly, impractical and dangerous. The queue will be from Bridge of Don to the harbour when rush hour is back to normal.

Cat.