LORD DAVID STEEL on THE REFORM OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS POST INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM

I have an abiding and enduring respect for David Steel , something that is very hard to feel for a  politician these days.This is simply for the fact he is a former President and now Patron of the Charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Some very sad persons try and equate the honourable work of this charity to supporting and receiving support from anti-semites , a very sad aspect of pro-Zionist today. .What this website does not mention is that a simple look at the list of supporters and patrons of this laudable Humanitarian medical organisation reads as a Model line-up of the sincerest , humane , unimpeachable and upstanding members anyone could fit into a single list for character and integrity.The tarnishing of this Charity and its Members says more about the accusers than the goodness and integrity of the accused.A classic case of projection if ever there was one.It is sad that defenders of Zionism have stooped so low that things have come to this pathetic smearing , saying all that needs be said of their doctrine and methods of operating.It seems Zionism is an outdated , expansionist ideology that has no place in the 21st Century.

So much for bad rubbish , this was a lecture about the role of The House of Lords after the Independence vote in autumn 2014 if , as Steel believes , the NO camp win.

Firstly Steel commented on the deteriorating standards and developments in Parliament citing the advent of TV coverage and the pantomime nature of PMQs which at one time was an opportunity for backbench MPs to personally question the PM on behalf of their constituents , not the Punch and Judy boxing match we have today with the party leaders taking up most of the time which ought to be given over to close questioning from backbench MPs on matters of local or national accountability and concern.

"Lord Steel, the former Liberal leader, has launched a despairing attack on the prevalence of spin doctors in politics, noting that he is given "daily outpourings of tweets to circulate" and bombarded by email with "lines to take" on current issues.
The senior Liberal Democrat, echoing the private views of other senior figures across parties, said a daily "laundry list" sent out by the party headquarters contributes to the "diminution of individual expression or even thought in politics" as politicians are expected to repeat a positive central message over and over again."

Criticising the change from Politics being a forum for accountability of power to a weekly entertainment for the media he stated.

"The increasing role of spin doctors is to be deplored," he said.
"They hand out questions for MPs to ask, and they daily bombard party activists by email with 'lines to take'. Even I as a humble member of the upper house receive daily doses of laundry lists of the alleged achievements of the Lib Dems in the coalition government, and a selection of press coverage – all favourable of course – nothing critical such as the universally hostile editorial coverage of the last peerage list.
"The latest addition to these daily outpourings are suggested tweets to circulate. Fortunately I am not a tweeter, so I swiftly delete all these unread."
"Little wonder that the paid-up membership of political parties is in decline," he added.

Thereafter Steel set out his proposals to make the two Chambers more representative , democratic and accountable to the electorate.Especially encouraging more members to be put forward from the Regions to what is a very Londoncentric House of Lords , an important branch for post-legislation scrutiny which needs to be less appointed and more elected thus shifting from patronage to accountability.You can see the whole of the lecture in this link.

"When I talk of a “federal flavour” I am thinking of the comparison with the Bundesrat, the upper house in the Federal Republic of Germany and I am reminded of what their then foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher once said to me about the post-war constitution foisted on them largely by the allies led by the British:

You gave us three things successfully to underpin our new democracy after our disaster – decentralized government, proportional representation, and co-determination in industry, and you were so generous you British that you took none of them for yourselves!"

In the Q&A session Steel said the main issue for the Scottish and UK Parliament powers was Taxation , you cannot have one elected chamber beholden to another elected chamber for its supply of tax revenue , but surely that is as good a case for a "Yes" vote for the Independence Referendum
as one can make , especially as Steel himself admits the Scottish NHS is run better than its English counterpart and we in Scotland still have free higher education and free prescriptions for medicines for the elderly which is a ultimate sign of true civilisation and the acute fight towards poverty alleviation which England abandoned long ago.