David Cameron is "shallow" and "an utter joke", say campaigners after the Tories last night said there was "no justification" for abolishing hereditary peers.
David Cameron has been described as “shallow” and “an utter joke” by democracy campaigners after the Conservatives last night said there was “no justification” for the abolition of the remaining hereditary peers.
Guy Aitchison, contributing editor of Open Democracy, told Left Foot Forward:
“It’s an utter joke that after 100 years of trying to reform the Lords he now says he wants to keep the hereditaries. Privately Cameron has said it’s a third term issue, yet only last May, during the expenses crisis, he wrote of the importance of reforming Parliament and redistributing power.
“He talked about redistributing power from the powerful to the powerless. That pledge was shallow as we can now see. Labour aren’t without blame though, they’ve had 12 years to reform the Lords and have failed – we still have 92 hereditary peers.”
Shadow Justice Secretary Dominic Grieve, speaking during the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill yesterday, said of the Government’s proposals to abolish hereditary peers:
“In truth, there is no justification for such action … From our point of view, the continuing election of the hereditaries remains a key way of ensuring that working peers can get in and be maintained”
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UPDATE 2:05
This is the full list of Shadow Cabinet Ministers who voted to protect hereditary peers:
Ken Clarke
George Osborne
William Hague
Dominic Grieve
Philip Hammond
Nick Herbert
Theresa May
Oliver Letwin
Andrew Lansley
Owen Paterson
Greg Clark
Mark Francois
Cheryl Gillan
Michael Gove
Jeremny Hunt
Andrew Mitchell
David Mundell
Eric Pickles
Grant Shapps
David Willetts
Theresa Villiers
Sir George Young
19 Responses to ““Shallow” Cameron an “utter joke” on Lords reform”
Martin Johnston
RT @leftfootfwd: “Shallow” Cameron an “utter joke” on Lords reform: http://is.gd/79jZ9 #reasonsnottovotetory
Thomas Byrne
Redistribute power to the ‘powerless’ by allowing Brown and the Labour party to have their parliamentry dictatorship without scrutiny? Perfectly sensible statements by both Cameron and Grieve.
Labour List
RT @LeftFootFwd “Shallow” Cameron an “utter joke” on Lords reform: http://is.gd/79jZ9
GuyAitchison
I've been quoted on the @leftfootforward blog calling Cameron's plans on Lords reform "shallow" and an "utter joke" http://tiny.cc/SAbXr
GuyAitchison
I've been quoted on the @leftfootfwd blog calling Cameron's plans on Lords reform "shallow" and an "utter joke" http://tiny.cc/SAbXr