UK: Labour pledges to abolish House of Lords

The British opposition Labour Party is believed to take power in the country by 2025 following the general elections. Labour leader Keir Starmer pledged this week that there would be a major transfer of power to the public in a Labour government.

Starmer on Monday pledged that a Labour government would see a major transfer of power back to the public, with the party pledging to scrap out the unelected and “indefensible” House of Lords as a part of a major constitutional reform. Starmer alleged that many voters back in 2016 voted in support of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union due to a sense of a lack of democratic control.

“I think the House of Lords is indefensible. Anybody who looks at the House of Lords would struggle to say that it should be kept,” Starmer told BBC. “So we want to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber that has a really strong mission.”

The blueprint for the major reform was drafted by former prime minister Gordon Brown, who sees a new devolution to the UK’s regions and countries, including Scotland. Brown proposed greater devolution with the Scottish parliament included in international agreements that involve Scottish areas.

The blueprint has yet to become the party’s policy as it is set to go into public consultation with the approved changes expected to be included in the party’s next election manifesto. Starmer said he hoped to implement the eventual reforms within the first five years of a Labour government, likely including the redeployment of 50,000 civil service jobs outside London.

The proposals would also include a clamp down on members of parliament holding second jobs and establishing a new anti-corruption commissioner. At the centre of the plan was to scrap the upper house of parliament in its current form, which is made up of political appointees, hereditary peers, and Church of England bishops.

Last week, the party secured a victory for a parliament seat in northwest England when the Conservative Party lawmaker Sajid Javid said he would stand down, joining the growing group of lawmakers under the governing party that will not return to Westminster in the next general election.