A Proposal for Simultaneous Reform of the House of Commons and House of Lords

The disproportional electoral system of the House of Commons is increasingly contested, while the undemocratic composition of the House of Lords has been criticised for a century. I first argue that simultaneous reform of both chambers creates the opportunity for far more optimal outcomes than possible under attempts to reform just one chamber. I then argue that bicameralism should continue so that the UK can be represented in two, currently convoluted, ways: as a singular polity in partisan terms and as both an aggregate of constituencies and union of nations, in geographic terms. The former would best take place in a reformed House of Commons, responsible for government formation, and composed of around 300 MPs elected by ‘pure’ proportional representation. The latter would best take place in a reformed House of Lords of around 300 peers, elected by plurality voting from single-member constituencies. Together, these reforms would improve governance, representation, legitimacy, accountability and the robustness of the union, while retaining celebrated facets of the status quo such as simplicity and the direct constituency link.     

House organ

“A vast, depopulated coutry; a low density of automobiles, which are propelled by a type of gas with little sulphur; windy cities with no thermal inversions; a fairly recent genocide of dissident intellectuals and political activists; an even more recent economic collapse; a fragmented and quarrelsome left; a current government economic policy which assures stability at the price of decreased wagest less job security and increased unemployment — all these ingredients serve to suggest that red-green politics are not exactly booming in Argentina.“     

House organ

Red green theory and practice in the world today take a wide variety of forms that eschew leftist dogmatism and “time‐honored, time‐worn” slogans, on the one hand, and “mere utopianism,” on the other. The Alternative Rouge et Verte (AREV) movement in France is one of these, as a reading of this statement of their general political views, written for CNS, will reveal. The publication of the AREV movement is: Alternative Rouge et Verte, 40 rue de Malti, 75011 Paris, France.     

House organ

“I live in a country which is said to have a strong ecological opposition, one which includes the Green Party, a great variety of citizen's initiatives, and a network of alternative institutions and communications media, and where public opinion is especially sensitive to ecological problems. This is not entirely false. The so‐called ecological movement, in fact, has been quite successful in the last two and a half decades. But there is also the other side of success: Now that everybody drives a car with a catalytic converter, talks about ecological modernization, and advocates an ecological ethics, the willingness of people to accept a fundamental reorientation in science, politics, and economy is much less apparent today.”     

House organ

“The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the geopolitical and ideological upheavals this has caused have altered the nature of class struggle throughout the world. Without the Soviet Communist Party, parties in the rest of the world have lost legitimacy and their claim to leadership of the working class. The basic tension between capital and labor remains, but the traditional means of addressing working class and minority grievances have necessarily changed. Without either a model or a support base — the two possibilities that the Soviets offered the working classes of other countries — those demanding economic and social justice must confront capital with new forms of organization and struggle.”     

A comparison of incumbent security in the House and Senate

The authors would like to thank Charles Bullock, Evelyn Fink, Kevin Grier, Paul Johnson, Benjamin Page, Brian Roberts and Eric Schonsberg for their assistance. Any remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.