Lording It Up
Why do we need a second parliamentary chamber anyway - why not just have one as we do in the Scottish Parliament?
Anyway if you require more evidence that the House of Lords is not fit for purpose - consider the following fiasco involving the shamed Labour peer - Baroness Uddin.
The noble Baroness was exposed for fiddling her expenses - suspended by her 'peers' - and ordered to repay £125,000 to the public purse.
But what has she actually repaid - not a penny - would you believe?
Yet Baronees Uddin will be allowed to return to the House of Lords next April - where she will be able to pick up £300 a day in tax free expenses - simply for turning up showing her face.
What a disgrace.
The House of Lords says it is powerless to stop her - yet these are the same people who overturned an earlier decision to suspend Baroness Uddin's - for a full three years.
Here's what I wrote on the blog site in October 2010.
My view remains the same - the sooner the House of Lords is abolished the better.
Payback Time (October 25th 2010)
Baroness Uddin - the Labour peer suspended by the House of Lords for making false expenses claims - says she can't afford to pay the £125,000 she has been ordered to pay back.
Last week the House of Lords suspended the Baroness for 18 months - until Easter 2012 - but after that she will be free to return and claim her £300 a day 'attendance allowance'.
See the previous post dated 18 October 2010 - 'Lording It Up' - for all the gory details.
The House of Lords apparently felt sorry for the Baroness - because they overturned a harsher recommendation from a sub-committee which said she should be banned for at least three years and not be allowed to return until she had paid the full amount back.
Incredibly the Baroness told the appeal that "she does not have the means to repay" the money - despite owning three homes - including subsidised social housing in London, a flat in Maidstone and a large family villa in Bangladesh.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Baroness Uddin was not at her London home or flat in Kent and that her lawyers - Thompsons Solicitors - did not return calls.
