Campaign win on House of Lords standards

There are times when defending and strengthening our democracy feels like a Sisyphean task; as soon as the rock of democracy is nudged closer to the top, it rolls back and crushes a few toes!

But this time that rock has defied gravity and we have made some real progress.

A few months ago, Open Democracy, with whom we work closely, pointed to concerns about the way a number of peers were registering their business interests.  It appeared that a significant number were not complying with the already rather limited disclosure requirements.  This matters.  Citizens are entitled to know when a Peer is speaking in the Lords whether any directorships or shareholdings they hold might be influencing their contribution to a debate or the way they vote. 

We contacted the Commissioner for Standards in the Lords drawing his attention to a possible breach of the rules by up to 39 peers.  His response confirmed that he had required 24 of those peers to provide more clarity about their business interests.  Those changes have now been made.

That rock inched just a bit higher.

But Unlock Democracy’s research into the way peers' interests are recorded flagged up other problems. 

Notably a description by a peer of the purpose of one business was deemed to have satisfied the requirement to describe another business (albeit of a similar nature), even though that business was listed in the Peers’ register in a foreign language (French in this case).  Most would agree that expecting everyone reading the Peers’ register to have an encyclopedic knowledge of foreign languages is just a tad unreasonable.  

Unlock Democracy found a further weakness.  This related to Peers who had significant control of a business (but without holding a Directorship or shares). Under the current rules, they are under no obligation to describe the nature of that business.

Unlock Democracy made direct contact with the Lords Conduct Committee about these flaws.

A comprehensive and considered reply from Lord Mance, the Chair of the Committee, has acknowledged that action was required on both counts: the Lords Code of Conduct will be amended and administrative changes applied.

The rock just edged a few more millimetres skywards. 

The willingness of their Lordships to respond to requests for greater transparency and accountability is commendable.  

At Unlock Democracy we now need to redouble our efforts to extract a similar commitment from the Commons. That really will be a Sisyphean challenge.