Member

I dispute the comments from the noble Lord, Lord Newby, that an elected second Chamber would have greater public support. A number of noble Lords, such as the noble Lord, Lord Brady, mentioned this, and the noble Lord, Lord Norton, touched on opinion polls. I remember discussing opinion polls about how the House of Lords is perceived with my party colleagues. A number of Members said that we are very low down in the opinion polls, but the elected House does not do too well in the opinion polls either. The public do not like politicians terribly much full stop, so I am not sure whether being elected gains greater support. But it certainly is the case that there are more attacks on Members for being unelected.