The House of Lords: Can Old Ideas Still Make Sense?

The PM and his deputy are setting the stage for a radical restructuring of the House of Lords, but will this yield the rich rewards promised? The glaring question is...WHY? The current system works well and has done so for generations. Fair laws get passed and bad ideas tend to be short lived. Only about half of the Lords bother to take an active part in the few duties of their house, so there is a minimum of congestion and overcrowding is no more an issue than it has ever been. If the two houses are equal, tie-breaking votes and who should cast them will surely become problematic. Finally, demanding elected Lords deprives parties the power to reward their faithful and generous with peerages, which can only mean passage of the election proviso equals dumb politics. Why give up the chance to distribute such political pearls? A balanced bicameral legislature, the logical result of Lords reform isn't a good fit for the UK. Lords reform needs to be scrapped. The current arrangement still works and it still makes sense.