Member

Some of my noble friends who are hereditaries, if not all of them, deserve to be recognised for the duty and public service they have given. So I just ask: is it not possible for the Front Benches and the leaders of the Cross Benches to get together and work out a deal that will provide what the Government want—the end of the hereditary principle—but will enable those people who have made such a contribution and have so much to offer to this House the ability to continue to make a contribution by offering them life peerages? Then we get into the numbers game. As far as I can see, it is from zero to 88. I am no great negotiator, but I can see that 88 is not going to be a realistic proposal, and I can see that zero is going to create a great deal of rancour, so it would be somewhere in between, looking at the talents and abilities that are needed in this House in order to do our duty. Our duty is to hold the Government to account—that includes all Benches; I certainly did when I was on the other Benches with the previous Government, much to the irritation of some of my noble friends. We have a duty to do that.