Member

I turn to the amendment before us. It does not stipulate that the second Chamber should be elected. It refers to a “democratic mandate”. The noble Lord, Lord Newby, made no reference to this. A mandate is an authority to carry out a particular policy. If one looks at the precise wording, one sees that you can use it against the argument for an elected second Chamber, because a mandate is something normally conferred on a party seeking election. If this Chamber had a mandate, that presumably would distinguish it from the other Chamber, which would have a mandate of its own. There would not necessarily be symmetry between the two. That could invite conflict.