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Adonis says move the Lords out of London

April 19, 2012 10:30 am

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Former No.10 policy chief and transport minister makes a radical suggestion that would certainly shake up the Westminster bubble post Lords reform:

“If the House of Lords is going to be reformed next year, part of the reform should be to move it out of London to a city in the Midlands or the north.”

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  • treborc1

    Russia

  • http://twitter.com/jonworth Jon Worth

    This makes a Strasbourg-style travelling circus for the Lords. Not a good idea.

    • http://kieronam.net/ Kieron

      Totally disagree Jon, it’s a completely different situation. The Houses have separate memberships and separate staffs. This isn’t like the EP having two seats – this is like the Council(s) moving to Strasbourg whilst the EP stays in a single seat in Brussels. Which would actually be a really good idea.

      It might even be better for the Lords to be away from the Commons so as to be more independent. The need for a strong and independent upper house has been amply demonstrated recently (however its members are appointed/elected).

  • http://twitter.com/matt_j_little Matthew Little

    Brilliant idea, too much power is based in London. It’s bad for the rest of the country. Good for London though…

  • M Cannon

    Utterly barmy idea.  Ministers in the Lords and the civil servants who briefed them would have to dash back and forwards between Manchester and London.  Also, there is a perfectly good building in London and no need to blow hundreds of millions on a new one in Manchester or anywhere else.

    • Brumanuensis

      I agree. It’s impossible to communicate with them up North. I believe it would take two days for a pigeon to cover the distance between Leeds and London.

      • GuyM

        You need face to face time as well.

        Virtual conferencing is not at a stage yet that means you can do away with face to face meetings reguarly.

  • Steve Jennings

    Lord Adonis should move out of London and spend some time in the north with working class people.

    • Bill Lockhart

       Can only northerners be “working class people”? Do manual workers in London not make the grade in the chippy, judgmental process of Leftist pigeon-holing?

    • John Ruddy

      Actually, he does spend much more time out of the office than you think. For instance a while back he did a round britain trip by rail using a rail rover. Its why he was such an effective Transport Minister.

    • Brumanuensis

      Not entirely in sync with Andrew Adonis politically, but he was a good Transport Secretary and he’s a seriously clever guy, whose opinions deserve to be listened to. Not a fair comment, Steve.

  • Carolekins

    Ld Adonis is moving in the right direction.  You guys in the South have no idea how cut off we feel in the North East.  Manchester – that’s almost the South to us: it takes as long to get there as it does to London.  Now Leeds – there’s an idea.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=36910622 Edward Carlsson Browne

    This is a great way to make sure that the media ignores the Lords. Shifting one institution isn’t enough, if you want to minimise the dominance of London you have to address the whole basket of reasons why it draws all the attention.

  • Brumanuensis

    I think York would be a better alternative actually. I agree with Edward though: this would be pure gesture politics, on its own. Also, what would do with the existing Lords chamber?

    • Slakah

      Have you not seen the queues for Bettys Tea Rooms? I doubt they can take any more Tourists.

  • Anniesec

    Why just go for a symbolic moving of the building? What might make. Sense would be to elect members of the House of Lords on a regional basis and devolve their powers to a set of regional bodies. We need to be thinking about House of Lords reform as part of a whole constiitutional package of political reform that can give a voice to all.

  • Peter MacDonald

    Why on earth would any sane politician suggest that the upper house of a bicameral parliament should be located miles and miles away from the lower house?  It beggars belief!    It would be a logistical nightmare for the government and opposition alike trying to coordinate their groups in both houses.   I can’t see how he imagines it could work unless the reforms would like to see to the House of Lords include very drastically curtailing their role as a revising house. 

    • Inveraray

      Why would any sane Labour politician suggest retaining the Peerage(sorry,upper house?) whether North,South,East or West?

      • Peter MacDonald

        I’m all in favour of Lords reform – I’ve not made my mind up quite how it should be reformed – but don’t see how moving the Upper House to Birmingham or Manchester helps.   Instead, it seems to make far more sense to me to consider how the democratic deficit in the Lords can be addressed rather than propose moving it hundreds of miles away from the capital. 

  • ThePurpleBooker

    I agree with what Adonis is trying to do and what he means but I don’t think it would work constitutionally or traditionally. I think however having something in Manchester or up North for eg. a government department would be good.

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