BoJo May Scrap Unelected House of Lords, Give Chamber to Working-Class Regions

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales sits with Britain's Queen El
Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration is looking into scrapping the unelected Lords and handing the upper chamber over to an assembly of nations and regions.

If followed through, the plans would end the domination of London-centric politics in parliament, with elected representatives given a voice in the halls of power to working-class, Leave-supporting regions of the country.

The Times reports such a plan drafted by Lord Salisbury last year is now “on the desk” of Boris Johnson and will form part of a commission on the country’s constitution, which is due to be set up this spring.

Such seats could go to northern cities and regions like Yorkshire, with a senior Conservative familiar with the proposal telling the newspaper: “Lord Salisbury produced a paper that set out a blueprint to turn it into the House of the Nations and Regions.”

“He has spoken to Boris about it. It attracts their attention a great deal. The Lords is one of those areas where they can have a couple of fights,” they added.

The proposed discussions follow Prime Minister Johnson’s pledge to shift spending from London to the North and Midlands. The plans, to be unveiled in the next budget, are attempts to shore up support for the Conservative government in working-class heartlands that traditionally voted Labour but backed the Tories in the December 2019 election.

Due to Johnson’s pledge to deliver Brexit and Labour’s shift to the progressive-far-left, the Conservatives were able to break through the Red Wall, taking many traditionally Labour constituencies and winning an 80-seat majority.

In one of his speeches the day after election day, Mr Johnson said he was “humbled” by Labour voters who had lent him their support, saying he would “make it my mission to work night and day, flat out, to prove you right in voting for me this time and to earn your support in the future. In this election, your voice has been heard, and about time, too.”

Mr Johnson appears to be taking a page out of Nigel Farage’s playbook. The Brexit Party leader had long called for the overhaul of the unelected upper house of Parliament. Last year, Mr Farage registered the Reform Party, which, if Brexit is delivered, will take the reformation campaign from taking the UK out of the EU to reforming Britain’s internal political structure, including campaigning to scrap the Lords and make changes to the voting system.

Mr Farage had said in November: “[Voters] hate the House of Lords. This is going to be a big issue in the next few years.”

We talk about [Washington as] the swamp, and we are beginning to talk about Westminster in the same way,” he added.

In a more immediate shakeup of the political establishment, last month Breitbart London reported that Prime Minister Johnson is planning to give peerages to Brexiteers in order to redress the balance in the Remainer-dominated House of Lords. The Times reports that the prime minister is working on that new list of peers, which will be revealed later this month.

 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.