DAVID Cameron is defying calls to abolish and reform the House of Lords in the wake of the Lord Sewel scandal.
He has made clear his intent on creating even more Conservative peers, which will take the total membership of the Upper Chamber to more than 800.
The Prime Minister’s declaration of intent came as the disgraced 69-year-old Scottish peer finally bowed to public pressure and announced he would quit the Lords in light of the embarrassing allegations of a sex and drugs romp with prostitutes at his London flat. Scotland Yard is investigating and has raided the property.
Having rebuffed calls from parliamentary colleagues for him to stand down, Lord Sewel, a married father-of-four whose main residence is in Banchory near Aberdeen, succumbed to the pressure after more derogatory headlines hit the news-stands.
In announcing his decision to quit, the peer said he hoped it would limit and help repair the damage he had done to Westminster. Lord Sewel, a former Scotland Office Minister, also apologised “for the pain and embarrassment I have caused”.
At his Aberdeenshire home, there was a guarded silence; a family friend made clear his wife, Lady Jennifer, would not be commenting on the scandal.
At the local church, where Lord Sewel in March addressed the congregation - on the subject of Christianity and politics - a spokeswoman said: “We are not here to judge and obviously we want to support Jennifer at this time.”
The peer’s actions, which colleagues complained had brought the Lords into disrepute, sparked renewed calls to make widespread reform.
Tim Farron, the new Liberal Democrat leader, has written to fellow party leaders, calling on them to support a Bill presented two weeks ago by his colleague Lord Purvis of Tweed.
The Scottish peer wants a constitutional convention established to consider a Lords overhaul alongside other hot political topics like English Votes for English Laws(Evel) and the relationship between Westminster and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A similar piece of legislation is being promoted in the Commons by Labour backbencher Graham Allen.
Calling for "abolition and reform", Mr Farron said: "This is not just about one bad apple, it's about a system, which is rotten to the core and allows unelected, unaccountable people to think they are above the law."
The Cumbrian MP added: "It is yet another sorry reflection of an undemocratic system and more than ever highlights the Liberal Democrat case for reform.”
Pete Wishart for the SNP, which does not have representation in the Lords, echoed the call for a major overhaul, arguing the Upper Chamber should be replaced by "a fit-for-purpose 21st century democratic House free of 17th century forelock-tugging and deference".
"The public are growing angrier by the day by the antics of those who inhabit this gold-plated, red-upholstered Narnia," declared the Perth MP.
"The House of Lords is a relic that can no longer be afforded in a modern democracy and it is now time for it to go," he added.
But on his trade trip of South East Asia, Mr Cameron said there was "no point" in reviving the debate on Lords reform after Coalition proposals were killed off by Tory backbench opposition in the last Parliament.
Instead, he made clear that he was intent on creating as many as 50 new Conservative peers in the forthcoming Dissolution Honours List in an attempt to redress the balance, which sees 226 Tories heavily outnumbered in the Upper Chamber; already, the Government has been defeated there on Evel, devolution and the EU referendum.
“It is important to make sure the House of Lords more accurately reflects the situation in the House of Commons; that’s been the position with prime ministers for a very, very long time and for very good and fair reason,” added the PM.
With 783 current members, the Lords, which costs more than £90 million a year to run, is the largest legislative body outside of China.
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