Wakeham Commission

The Wakeham Report, published in 2000, was the report of a Royal Commission headed by Lord Wakeham, concerning reform of the United Kingdom's House of Lords. (See also Lords Reform.)

The Commission explicitly did not recommend a wholly or predominantly elected chamber, and also rejected the idea of random selection of members. Instead, the following recommendations were made:

The intention of the report was to create a second chamber that would be an effective check on government power, while simultaneously making it more accountable to the electorate. At the time the report was written, the Prime Minister recommended the appointment of life peers, Law Lords and Bishops; of these, only the Law Lords have been removed, with the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in October 2009. This means, effectively, that the Prime Minister and the governing party have great influence over the House of Lords, and it can be used as a source of political patronage. (In 2006-7, this became a more significant issue, owing to the Cash for Peerages scandal.) An independent Honours and Appointments Commission would solve this problem, and would create a peerage that was less dependent on partisan influence.

The House is often also criticised because no part of it is directly accountable to the electorate; no peers stand for election, and there is no normal procedure for removing peers. Adding some elected members, and limiting members' terms in office, might ameliorate this problem.

The report has been criticised for not addressing some crucial issues. For instance, at present, the House of Lords only has a power of suspensive veto; they may only delay legislation for one year, after which the House of Commons may pass it without the Lords' assent. The report did not address whether this situation would change, or remain the same.

The report was criticised that it proposed that the Lords' ability to veto subordinated and delegated legislation should be replaced by a three-month delaying power to make clear that the Lords is the Second Chamber.

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