Most peers would agree with Darren Hughes of the Electoral Reform Society (Letters, 20 June) that the current byelections for hereditary peers are absurd. But there is no need to go over to an elected Lords to get rid of them. Adopting Bruce Grocott’s bill now before parliament would abolish them simply and swiftly.
Readers might ask why the Electoral Reform Society, formed to campaign for a change to more proportional voting systems, is denigrating the current Lords and demanding an elected alternative. The answer is simple. By common consent an elected Lords would not be chosen by the same first-past-the-post system as the Commons. Indeed, if the Lords were elected more proportionately, it would arguably have more legitimacy than the Commons, forcing the Commons to go over to a more proportional system. Like…
