Do we have to do it now?

Lords’ Reform has been in the news again recently. The Lib Dems want it. Cameron sort of supported it then the local elections happened and it got quietly dropped from the Queen’s Speech and I suspect buried at the bottom of the legislative agenda.

But this blog isn’t about the pros and cons of reforming the Lords, because in my experience there are good arguments on both sides – “It will be more representative” cry those in favour, “It’ll lead to deadlock” reply those against it - Though I will say that the argument “It’s an archaic institution, a relic of a bygone age with no place in modern society” is a bit of a daft one. The same could be said of the Monarchy, the changing of the guard, the office of Speaker and depending on how long something needs to have existed to be archaic the office of Prime Minister which only came about because George the First couldn’t speak English. But I don’t see anyone lobbying for these to be abolished or reformed any time soon.

No, this blog is about the necessity of Lords’ reform occurring right now. The Lords has been around in one form or another for about a thousand years and seems to have done a pretty good job so far. While there have already been some reforms and it seems logical – to some people anyway – to continue them, I fail to see why it has to be done right now.

The world, as you may have noticed, is in a bit of a mess. The Eurozone is on the verge of collapse, we’ve just entered the second dip of the recession, the war in Afghanistan shows no sign of ending, Israel and Palestine are sniping at each other on an almost daily basis, we have an aging population, a school system in need of vast reforms, a lack of viable industry, record levels of unemployment, we need to invest billions we don’t have in renewable energy research and combating climate change and Iran may or may not be quietly building a nuclear arsenal. There’s quite a lot on our plate at the moment as it is. In the face of all this I have to ask, do we really have the time to prioritise what is essentially a non-issue?  

I know the real reason of course. This is the Lib Dems bite at the apple. The chances of them ever being in this position again are negligible – especially considering the Local Election results – and they want to get stuff done while they have a chance. But I would think that their time would be better spent pushing for things that really matter, like solving the issue of climate change or fighting to save the libraries. If you asked a cross section of the electorate which mattered to them more, libraries or Lords’ reform I’m willing to bet 90% would say libraries.

If we are going to insist on violating the old adage, “Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere” then fine. But can we please do it when we actually have time, preferably once we’ve sorted out the banking crisis, got out of Afghanistan and had a quiet word with Mr. Ahmadinejad.