Scottish Labour leadership candidate calls for replacing the House of Lords with an elected second chamber based in Glasgow

Dugdale is running against Ken Macintosh to be Scottish Labour leader.

In an article for the Guardian, she has said should would like “shake up the UK” by replacing House of Lords with an elected second chamber, which she would campaign to have based in Glasgow.

She argues that “people are looking for signs that politicians get it” and that this means  institutions that “at one time had the trust of people in our country”, such as the BBC, the church, the monarchy and the House of Commons, no longer have their future guaranteed.

Dugdale deems it a “democratic outrage” that the second chamber is an unelected House of Lords and slams Labour for allowing its “reforming spirit” to be “replaced by a small “c” conservatism”. Citing Labour’s successes – such as establishing and strengthening the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh, Northern Irish and London assemblies – Dugdale writes that the case for a democratically elected second chamber is “unanswerable”.

But the Scottish Labour leader contenders argues that this second chamber “can’t be in London”. She says she’ll campaign for it to be based in Glasgow because it’s “the biggest city of a nation” that is “bristling with political energy, art, culture, deep-rooted poverty and grand history.”