Boggy on the Coalition's Constitution

Simon Heffer has written an interesting piece in the Telegraph outlining Vernon Bogdanor's concerns over the Coalition Government's constitutional reforms. Prof Bogdanor is 'alarmed' by the changes that are afoot and believes that 'they would shut the British people out of the political process even more than they are already'.

The prospect of the Lords might become viewed as the more democratic and more representative of Westminster's two chambers, that I alluded to in my previous post, is given some credence.

A directly elected second chamber could, he argues, quite feasibly claim a superiority to the Commons, given it would be elected by proportional representation – in which case it could be perceived as more representative than the Commons; and if the time of its election were different from that of the Commons, it could claim to have a fresher mandate from the people.

If the voting rights of Scottish, Welsh and Irish MPs are restricted in the Commons, it seems to me to be quite likely that the Lords becomes viewed as the more British of the two houses, as well as being the more democratic and representative.

Bogdanor is also of the opinion that a switch to the Alternative Vote will result in more coalition governments. That's no great revelation, just about everybody thinks the same. More 'balanced parliaments' and coalition governments means non-English MPs are more likely to influence the outcome of English legislation and prevent England from having the government that it voted for.

If the YES Campaign win the referendum on a switch to AV from FPTP, the case for answering the West Lothian Question becomes even stronger. And if the Lords becomes an upper house elected by proportional representation, they will need to answer the Upper West Lothian Question or run the risk of the upper house being the more legitimate and the more British of the two chambers.

Hopefully Simon Heffer's plug for Boggy's new book will help the prof recoup some of the money lost to the thieving toerags at ippr.