Smaller parties to have no say on Lords reform committee

Following this week’s meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee, the leaders of the UK and devolved administrations declared that the gathering had discussed “the mutual respect agenda and how the four administrations could work together to make this a reality”. Despite such talk of respect, however, Nick Clegg’s call for a “New Politics” now seem a long time ago.

In leading for the Government in Monday’s Queen’s Speech debate on the Constitution and Home Affairs, the deputy prime minister announced that none of the minority parties from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be represented on a new cross-party committee deigned to devise plans for reforming the House of Lords.

The decision not to include smaller parties will mean that there will be no representation from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales on a committee looking to reform parliament. Clegg’s announcement drew a string of criticism from across the opposition benches.

For Labour, former Welsh secretary and MP for Torfaen, Paul Murphy, made clear:

“I believe that the minority parties should be involved in discussions about the House of Lords.”

For the Democratic Unionist Party, MP for South Antrim, William McCrea, was disappointed at the decision, declaring:

“When I listened to the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech, I was very disappointed that he showed a lack of respect for the smaller parties in the House. I suggest to him that he should give minority parties more respect, because he could find himself on the Back Benches shortly. One should never allow power to go to one’s head.”

And for the Scottish National Party, its leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson, was equally critical:

“During the last Parliament, there was much I needed to criticise the Labour Government on when it came to constitutional matters, but in recent times the previous Government worked hard on issues such as the reform of party and MP finance to include all the parties.

“Indeed, the then Justice Secretary was exemplary in his relations with the political parties of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is totally unacceptable that we are to see major constitutional reforms in the United Kingdom on the basis of excluding the parties of government from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

The Coalition Government’s failure to include representatives from outside England as it forms proposals to reform the United Kingdom House of Lords serves only to alienate those across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who feel aggrieved that Westminster views them as just an afterthought. If the Coalition is serious about its support for the union, its actions need to support its rhetoric.