HOUSE OF LORDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 79, 24 June 1927, Page 9

HOUSE OF LORDS

REFORM PROPOSALS LORD FITZALAN’S MOTION CARRIED By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Thursday. House of Lords negatived the amendment of the Earl of Arran to Viscount Fitzalan's motion by 208 votes to 54. Lord Fitzalan’s motion was carried. The motion was that the House would welcome a reasonable measure to limit and define the Lords’ membership, and' deal with the inherent defects of the Parliament Act. The Earl of Arran’s amendment was that it would be contrary to Parliamentary practice to introduce a measure until the electorate had expressed its views. In the House of Commons Mr. Winston Churchill, in reply to a question, said that the discussions in the Lords would assist the Ministry in deciding the final form of the legislative proposals for reforming the House of Lords. Mr. J. R. Clynes (Labour): Can you state the form—whether it means resolutions or a bill Mr. Churchill: It is far too early to approach the matter in such a definite form. The Lord Chancellor’s statement embodied the Ministry’s general view. Mr. Churchill added that owing to a crowded business paper, facilities could not be given for discussing the matter, except through the Opposition availing itself of the censure motion. Mr. Clynes said that the policy had been revealed in another place. It became the Opposition’s duty to take steps to have it discussed in the Commons.—A. and N.Z.-Sun. The general council of the Trades Unions Congress and the Parliamentary Labour Party at a joint meeting decided to offer uncompromising hostility to the proposals of the Government for the reform of the House of Lords.

The ground of their objection was that the proposals would the House of Commons of its control of finance and taxation, and perpetuate the House of Lords as a Conservative instrument.—A. and N.Z.