Lord Rooker (Lab)

My Lords, the precision, clarity and delivery of this report show what a class act my noble friend Lady Taylor of Bolton is. When I do Learn with the Lords programmes, I explain to students that for every decision in Parliament, the elected House has the last word. There might be a delay, but it has the last word. We are nothing more than a large sub-committee of the House of Commons, with the authority and power to ask it to think again, and again, and maybe again, but not after that. That is the reality of our status, which is why I do not support election for this place. I want the power and the last word to remain, as they are today, with the elected House. I am covered by this, like my noble friend Lord Grocott. I will be off in July 2029; I will be 88. What grounds do I have to complain? Just think about it. I do not complain; there is a precision to that, and it is a benefit to the whole House. I would like my vote back when I go, though; there is no reason why Peers who retire should not have their vote returned. It has always been a disgrace, and that is the one thing that I might want to push for when duty arrives. On the manifesto, manifestos are important but the public never read them. This one was a fraud on tax. Freezing tax allowances is a tax increase. That is the reality; the manifesto was broken the day the Chancellor moved to freeze the tax allowances. It is important to take it as a guide for what we want to be able to do. I supported the process of 80; the solution and the transition that have come up through the committee are to be commended. What we must not do is add any bells and whistles. Under no circumstances should we attempt to legislate, because that would involve the House of Commons and it will have a different view about our structures. That would be wrong, because it would be based on ignorance. My ignorance in the other place was massive before I came here. It was only when I became a Minister that I discovered how flexible this place was; I wish I had known when we were in opposition. I would have had a lot of questions that we could not get dealt with in the Commons pushed down to my noble colleagues. That is the reality. It is important that we deal with this and own the change. I freely admit that the transition is a couple of changes: retirement and attendance, or performance if you like. I realise that over the years to come, other changes will flow from that. There will be a constant drip of change. We all want to do more, but in this case we should stick to exactly what the report covers and not try to add to it and give others the chance to write our rules for us. I have no problem with this at all. I look forward to my noble friend’s response to the debate, and to a timetable for when we might get some resolutions. I have a mental note that maybe early next year we will have some resolutions to put into practice. Quite clearly, there is a division between us; I freely admit that. I just hope that there is a majority consensus to protect the well-being of the House from legislation and to support this unanimous report, put together by a cross-party group of people who all disagreed to start with.