Both houses will be subject to an attendance review, those members who have made insufficient visits to the palace of Westminster (without just cause i.e., illness, govt business) will be sacked.
The presence of hereditary peers and bishops in the house is simply incompatible with the twenty-first century. The great-great-great grandsons of the most successful pirates have no additional right to make laws. A further anachronism is the presence of twenty-four bishops; superstition has no place in a legislative assembly. Furthermore church attendance is 654000 a week, that’s one bishop for each 25000 worshippers. On average every weekend 835000 went to watch live football in one of England’s top six tiers, that equates to thirty three (English) football fans in the Upper house. Surely the nations pub goers also deserve representation?
The hereditary peers and bishops who pass the attendance review will not be replaced with similar on their passing.
Following the removal of the freeloaders the house will be topped up according to the total popular vote in the previous general election. This should encourage people to vote, even in constituencies where their preferred candidate has little chance of success. This will go some way to redress the anomaly of the current voting system whereby the Tories have an MP for each 38300 voters, yet the Green Party have one MP having received 864837 votes in the 2019 election. It is reasonable to speculate many more Green votes would have been cast.
All voting systems must balance a trade-off between fairness and functionality; and this measure would provide some of the former without hindering the latter. A national total of 5% must be attained to achieve representation.
The blatant gerrymandering of the current electoral commission will be ended by re-establishing its independence and staffing it with persons from functional democracies. E.G. New Zealand, and the Nordic countries.
The heads of the following organisations will be allocated a seat in the Upper House. C.B.I., T.U.C. heads of various significant NGOs e.g., The Howard league, charities commission, Joseph Rowntree foundation, National Trust and surfers against sewage. In addition, The Human League will be represented (Hello Andy).
There will be a referendum on becoming a republic on the event of a monarch’s death.
The prison population is higher than the size of an average U.K. parliamentary constituency; however, this will reduce on implementation of our humane policies. Prisoners will be given the vote; they will form a separate constituency and elect a member for H.M. prisons. This person will be known as the “Right horrible member for HM prisons”.
Consideration must be given to representation for the homeless.
The transferable vote will be introduced at general elections and candidates must collect fifty percent of votes cast to be elected.
The deposit to stand in elections will be reduced to £50.00 to increase participation.
The most creative spoilt ballots will be preserved in a local museum and available to view.
There will be an alternative Parliamentary oath for non-believers of religion and/or monarchy.
All parliamentary committees will close questioning witness with the question: “what haven’t you told us?”. Non-disclosure of information subsequently proven to be within the witnesses knowledge will result in prosecution.
A written constitution will be generated.
When Members of the Upper house are no longer able to serve comprehensively, they may be made “Emeritus professor of the University of the Palace of Westminster”. This would be a position with no voting rights but would allow access to the Palace and allow them to continue to offer counsel in their specialist field and sit on relevant committees.
A block of flats will be acquired to provide accommodation for members of parliament representing constituencies a certain distance from London. Thus, reducing the scope to abuse the second home allowance. In the short term the Bibby Stockholm could be utilised.
Ministers for the long term and gross domestic happiness will be introduced. An office of the Naysayers will be created.
All members will be required to get riotously drunk on a Friday afternoon to approve the week’s output. All legislation should make equal sense to the sober and the drunk. This process will be known as “Okocim’s razor.”