Democracy Campaigners in Sheffield call on Deputy Prime Minister to Support 100% elected Lords

Activists in the newly-formed group “Sheffield for Democracy” Group commemorated the Act passed by the Government of Lloyd George in 1911 by calling on the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, to support a 100% elected Upper Chamber of Parliament

Campaigning for an elected Lords, members of the group are calling for reform of the House as a second chamber, to  be chosen by the public, replacing the current chamber which has been chosen by the present and previous Governments, the Church of England, and the remaining 92 hereditary peers. They believe the time is overdue for progress in implementing this one hundred year old commitment. Lords reform is supported in various ways by the three main political parties; it was in the manifestos in the General Election in May 2010, but has frequently been ignored as a legislative priority: “the time is not now”. The Group says: “With draft proposals now being looked at by a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament, the time is ripe to make progress.

On Saturday 13 August the Group provided the Citizens of Sheffield with the opportunity to sign up to a letter to Nick Clegg at their stall outside Town Hall.

Notes
“Sheffield for Democracy” is an informal group set up by local campaigners, many of whom were involved in the “Yes” Campaign in the May 2011 referendum. It is linked to national organisations: the Electoral Reform Society;  and Unlock Democracy. These campaign for greater democracy; an informed populace; citizens rights;  a fairer voting system; more accurate representation of the public will in Parliament.

The Parliament Act was finally passed by the House of Lords on August 10th 1911 under then Prime Minister Lloyd George, after unelected peers had moved to block his ‘people’s budget’, for which he had a strong electoral mandate. which formally committed Parliament to replacing the House of Lords with a democratic second chamber for the first time,  The act allows the elected House of Commons to overrule the will of the unelected House of Lords.

The start of the Act states that “it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation.”  100 years later, that commitment has still not been realised.