To: David Cameron PM
We need a democratic House of Lords - and here's why it should use proportional representation
It is no secret that the House of Lords is overblown, undemocratic and does a poor job of representing the people of Britain. It is time to reform and finally bring democracy into all parts of parliament.
So how should the lords be elected? Both the fptp and PR voting systems have their merits and drawbacks. PR is clearly the best system for fairly representing the views of a national populous though fptp (or alternatives such as av) offer a better solution for local representation. Love them or hate them both electoral systems have something different to offer so, with our two house system, why not use both? For the commons (representing localities) keep the local elections, for the lords (representing the nation as a whole) PR is the clear solution.
Why is this important?
The House of Commons is meant to be made up of representatives, representing people in a given area and therefore a local form of voting seems most appropriate, however the job of the lords is to scrutinise bills as agents of the whole country. It doesn't take a genius to realise that the current makeup of the House of Lords is a poor representation of the British public and currently completely undemocratic. For a group representing the populous as a whole then a PR voting system would make the most sense, creating a house of the political median of the UKs populous.
I believe this system could help us solve the problem of the current bloated House of Lords, maintain our local democracy and improve our national democracy. Finally there is an opportunity for the smaller parties to have a national voice without losing the local representation.
