Readers' letters: It's clear Labour has no intention of abolishing House of Lords

A reader suggests Labour has gone back on its commitment to abolish the House of Lords

Stuffing the House of Lords with a raft of new nominations is a funny way for Labour to fulfill a pre-election pledge to abolish it.

With around 800 members, the House of Lords is the only upper house of any bicameral parliament in the world to be larger than its lower house. It is also the second-largest legislative chamber in the world, behind the National People’s Congress of China. It is incredible that as we move into 2025, we are still using a system that allows the government to appoint unelected cronies, donors and friends.

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This is despite Mr Starmer, before becoming Prime Minister, pledging that he would get rid of the “indefensible” chamber in his first term of government, and that this would be replaced with an elected chamber. Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, also similarly promised that the party would scrap the House of Lords, noting that “it is an institution that has no place in 21st-century politics”.

King Charles III sits alongside Queen Camilla as he reads the King's Speech from the The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords chamber during the State Opening of Parliament in July this year (Picture: Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images)King Charles III sits alongside Queen Camilla as he reads the King's Speech from the The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords chamber during the State Opening of Parliament in July this year (Picture: Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
King Charles III sits alongside Queen Camilla as he reads the King's Speech from the The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords chamber during the State Opening of Parliament in July this year (Picture: Henry Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

It is patently clear that Labour has no intent to abolish the House of Lords, and as with so many other promises made prior to coming into government, this pledge has quickly melted away.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Healthcare crisis

The recent declaration of a level four emergency in which a patient waited 12 hours in an ambulance outside an A&E department in Edinburgh is a damning indictment of our healthcare system.

The appalling conditions faced by patients reflect not only on our NHS but also on the leadership overseeing it. The current situation is untenable and poses significant risks to public health. We cannot allow our citizens to face the indignity of being left stranded outside critical care for entire shifts, while staff struggle under impossible workloads.

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The Scottish Government must take decisive action to address these systemic inefficiencies by investing in more robust staffing solutions and infrastructure improvements. The importance of a responsive healthcare system cannot be overstated; it is essential in safeguarding the well-being of all Scots.

Moreover, we must open a dialogue that includes frontline workers, healthcare experts, and community leaders to formulate practical solutions. If we fail to act swiftly and effectively, the consequences for our communities will be dire. The time for change is now; we cannot stand idle while those in need of urgent care suffer in silence.

Alastair Majury, Dunblane, Stirling

Fight for votes

John Birkett claims that the voting age was set at 21 because medical science says that is when the human brain is fully matured (Letters, 24 December). Poppycock! If that were the case, the voting age would never have fallen below 25 years of age for either sex. The voting age in the UK has always been purely down to party political expediency.

The only person to have come up with any sort of logical, just formulae for a democratic society was veteran campaigner David Sutch, who stated if someone was old enough to die fighting for their country, they were old enough to be given a direct say in deciding that government which sent them and their generation to their deaths.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Reeves’ blunder

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It has become abundantly clear that Rachel Reeves, having inherited one of the fastest growing economies when elected, has extinguished the flames of economic growth with a single fire blanket – aka her Budget.

This combined with Labour continually talking down the economy and we have a third quarter growth rate of 0 per cent with the danger of recession on the horizon. This Labour government, driven by political dogma and discredited ideology, is causing untold economic damage to the country and one can only hope that after five years in power, their likely disastrous economic legacy is not irreparable.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Tax justice

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev. Dr Shaw Paterson, certainly seems to have struck the rawest of nerves with his comments on Tax Justice Scotland (Scotsman, 26 December). Murdo Fraser plumbs new depths with his snide remarks about student politics of which Jeremy Corbyn would be ashamed, while John Lamont hints that tax justice is none of the Church’s business.

Dr Paterson rightly points out that social issues, such as tax justice are very much the Church’s business, as there is a crucial political dimension to faith, which transcends all political parties. Just because a policy of raising taxes will never be a vote winner, it doesn’t mean that is wrong.

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Tax Justice Scotland exists to promote the moral view that the tax burden should be more fairly spread among all. I’ve always been suspicious of the assertion that raising taxes doesn’t automatically increase revenue, as Murdo Fraser alleges. Properly managed – and more inclusive of the tax-lite ultra rich with their multiple loopholes – raising taxes goes beyond being a political issue, to becoming a moral and, dare I say it, spiritual, one.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

No photo ops

While ministers in the Scottish Parliament are being transported in limousines to functions such as football matches, our beautiful Highlands are being ruined visually and economically by wind turbines and overhead cables, and tourism – Scotland’s lifeblood – is being severely damaged.

Politicians revel in photo opportunities. Strange, however, that they never leave the Central Belt and go up to the Highlands and other areas where local people and businesses could point out the devastation caused by turbines.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Write to The Scotsman

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