SNP should accept seats in Lords: MP

THE SNP’s constitutional spokesman at Westminster has called on his party to rethink its position on the House of Lords and allow members to become peers.

Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart claims the lack of representation in the Upper House is hindering the party, particularly in helping to shape the Scotland Bill, which is going through the Lords.

He led an attempt in 2005 to get the party to change its position, which narrowly failed after First Minister Alex Salmond let it be known he opposed SNP peers.

But after a Lords debate this week on the Scotland Bill, with no Nationalist voices to help shape it, Mr Wishart believes his position has been vindicated.

He has been angered by the way claims made about tax powers and referendums by Tory and Labour peers have gone unchallenged. And he fears that with the bill due to go to committee stage in the Lords in the new year, it will mean the SNP will be absent at a key point when it is reshaped.

“I totally respect the decision the party made in 2005 but it has left us without a voice in the House of Lords in shaping vital legislation about the future powers of the Scottish Parliament,” he said.

“There will be a number of significant new amendments, but there will be no SNP members there to represent the party’s interest or Scotland.

“SNP MPs led the argument for a stronger bill in the Commons. We should be doing that in the Lords too.”