Parliamentary Reform in Brief

Discussions on parliamentary reform started in the second half of the 19^th century and continue to this day. For many years there has been a debate on the following issues:

· should the House of Lords be reformed,

· should the Lord Chancellor be simultaneously a Cabinet minister, the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Head of the Judiciary in England and Wales,

· should there be any changes in the House of Commons.

It seems that at the turn of the 20^th-21^st centuries this debate has reached its climax, triggering drastic reforms in Parliament.

One of the most important reforms carried out by the present government concerns the unelected house of Lords. While the members of the House of Commons are elected, members of the House of Lords until November 1999 sat in Parliament because they had either received or inherited a title. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the entitlement of most of the hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. In November 1999 the House of Commons agreed the Weatherhill Amendment, allowing only 92 hereditary peers to remain in a Transitional House of Lords until the next stage of reform is implemented.

The Parliamentary report A House for the Future was published in January 2000. Its many recommendations include the setting up of a new, mainly nominated, partly elected chamber of around 550 members.

There is one more aspect of the work of the House which the present government plans to reform. At present, the Law Lords act as the highest court in the land. Critics say it is very odd for the Law Lords to both help make the laws when legislation is passed and then independently judge how they are applied. Now the government wants that system to end and to be replaced by a separate supreme court.

The Lords reform proposals published at the end of 2001 suggested:

· getting rid of the last of the hereditary members of the House of Lords,

· separating the chamber completely from the peerage, which would remain purely as a formal honour,

· reshuffling of Lords membership.

Thus the main idea of the Lords reform is that hereditary memberships in the House should be abolished. Eventually, all voting members will be life peers. So, within a few years, members of the House of Lords will be people honoured for their service rather than those who have inherited titles. The job of the House of Lords will remain principally to consider and revise legislation, to scrutinize the executive and to debate and report on public issues.

The Labour government also intends to scrap some powers of the Lord Chancellor and ultimately to abolish his office.

The House of Commons is to undergo considerable changes as well. The Commons Modernisation Committee unveiled its latest plans for bringing Parliament into the 21t century. The Commons reform is aimed at boosting public confidence that Parliament is relevant to their lives. The proposals also include measures to help MPs to keep the government in check and to produce better laws. These are the plans to make government more accountable to Parliament. According to the Commons Modernisation Committee, they are not trying to make Parliament more ‘friendly’ for MPs, but rather voter-friendly.

Public confidence in democracy depends on whether the people respect parliament and believe it scrutinizes government effectively.

TASK 1. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following key words and expressions:

1. право заседать и голосовать
2. кадровая перестановка в составе палаты лордов
3. одобрить поправку
4. укреплять доверие общества
5. проводить в жизнь реформы
6. наследовать титул
7. выносить независимое суждение
8. держать правительство под контролем
9. преобразовать палату лордов
10. представлять отчет по вопросам государственной важности
11. пересматривать, изменять законы
12. критически изучать деятельность исполнительной ветви власти
13. подвергнуться значительным изменениям
14. обнародовать планы
15. положить начало кардинальным реформам

TASK 2. Use the key expressions from the text to answer the questions:

1. What are the main issues of parliamentary reform in Britain?
2. Which document removed the entitlement of most of the hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords?
3. How many hereditary peers remain in the Transitional House of Lords?
4. What recommendations did the Parliamentary report A House for the Future contain?
5. What is the main controversy over the issue of Law Lords?
6. What reform proposals were published in 2001?
7. What is the main idea of the Lords reform?
8. How will the post of the Lord Chancellor be modified?
9. What changes will the House of Commons undergo?

TASK 3. Study the following newspaper article that reflects opposing views on the reforms in the House of Lords. Write down in English a list of arguments for and against the reforms.