“Bullying” in the Lords makes it hard to be heard, says Labour peer

Lord Dubs, Labour peer has said that when it comes to the questions session in the House of Lords, peers who don’t like “jostling” and “bullying” to make themselves heard don’t take part.

The BBC reported that yesterday Lord Dubs – former Labour MP for Battersea South (1979-1983) and then Battersea (1983-1987) – said the way peers operated during the usually noisy questions session was “very undignified” and that it had a negative effect on “polite” peers.

Lord Dubs isn’t alone in feeling this. Fellow Labour peer Lord Campbell-Savours entered into the fray, explaining that :

“In the absence of a speaker, we are told by Government that it is for individual members of the House to police the House and police all proceedings in the House without a speaker. But isn’t the reality that all that does is create resentment and embarrassment between colleagues and it’s a system that doesn’t work.”

In response, Conservative peer and Leader of the House, Lord Hill of Oareford, seemed to agree with the two Labour peers, saying that when peers were asking questions, more transparency was needed. But, he went on to say that most of the time the House operated “pretty well”.

But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard such complaints coming from Westminster. In April of this year, John Bercow, House of Commons Speaker said the “histrionics and cacophony of noise” during prime ministers questions put MPs off from contributing in the Commons. From the Lords to the Commons, maybe it’s time we change the way we do politics…