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Reforming the Lords and Changing Britain (Fabian Pamphlet,)
Reforming the Lords and Changing Britain - Fabian Pamphlet, Author:John Osmond Pressure for constitutional change in Britain has ebbed and flowed across the last hundred years. It is only since the late 1980s that the agenda has crept in a serious way from the Celtic fringes of Wales, Ireland and Scotland to become a preoccupation in Westminster. Changing political institutions in Britain's unitary, monarchical state is so... more » difficult and controversial because if you change a little, you change everything. In this pamphlet, Osmond argues for a reformed Upper Chamber that would be representative of the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. He makes a powerful case for linking devolution within the United Kingdom and democratic decentralization within England to reform of the House of Lords. However, it cannot just be a question of transplanting a European model, such as the German Bundesrat, to Britain. He outlines a new institution of 300 directly elected members which would keep the traditional functions of the House of Lords and also expand and elaborate a role as a constitutional and human rights watchdog. This pamphlet is part of the Fabian Society's "Redesigning the State" programme which seeks to examine the role and form of a state appropriate to a 21st-century Britain.« less