§ Lord Lipseyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend the list system for the choice of elected Members of the House of Lords to he (a) a closed list system or (b) an open list system or (c) a semi-open ("Belgian") system. [HL1258]
§ The Lord ChancellorGiven that the purpose of the introduction of elected Members of the Second Chamber will be the representation of opinions in the nations and regions, it is right that a proportional electoral system is to be used. This system will be based around multi-member constituencies, one for each of the UK's nations and regions. The use of a list system flows from that.
The Government have made no final decision as to the nature of the list to be used. As my right honourable friend the Lord President of the Council made clear on 7 November, during his Statement in the House of Commons on the Government's White Paper on House of Lords reform, the Government are looking forward to consultation and discussion on the nature of the list system to be used.
155WA
§ Lord Joplingasked Her Majesty's Government:
For each of the last 10 Parliaments, what would have been the number of members of each political party who would have been directly elected under the proposals in the White Paper on House of Lords' reform for 120 elected members selected according to votes cast at a general election, assuming they were elected only for one Parliament; and what would be the number of members of each political party assuming they had all been elected in 1966 and thereafter for a five, 10 or 15-year term. [HL1288]
§ The Lord ChancellorThe table below sets out what would have been the likely distribution of the proposed 120 directly elected seats returned by regional constituency based on the general election results for the past 10 Parliaments.
Election Conservative Labour Lib Dem/ Alliance Plaid Cymru SNP DUP UUP SDLP Sinn Fein Others (N.I.) 1966 52 58 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1970 57 52 8 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1974 Feb 46 45 23 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 1974 Oct 43 48 22 0 3 0 2 1 0 1 1979 54 44 16 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 1983 51 33 32 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1987 51 39 25 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 1992 50 44 20 0 3 0 2 1 0 0 1997 39 56 18 0 3 0 2 1 1 0 2001 38 54 21 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 It is not possible to forecast what the figures would have been for the members of each political party elected in 1966 for five, 10 or 15-year terms. Other than in 2001, there were no general elections in cycles of five, 10 or 15 years from 1966.