This is what an honest MP opposed to Lords reform would say
Interlocutor: What’s all this about needing experts in the Lords? Don’t MPs sit through debates and vote on everything, so aren’t you pretty knowledgeable about what you are doing?
MP: Look, I know f*** all about most things I go to vote on. Frankly, we need some people who know what they’re going on about. You can’t expect MPs to know about the Bills they’re voting on.
Interlocutor: If those experts in the Lords are the ones who understand the issues, shouldn’t they have the power then?
MP: Oh good God no. We need the Lords because I’m ignorant, but that’s hardly a reason to take any power away from me, is it? What could be more important than keeping the primacy of the House of Commons?
Interlocutor: Well…
This is what an honest MP opposed to Lords reform would say: http://t.co/IoRlfRXB
I think the Lords do useful work sometimes as a countervailing power. They tried to block (and thus publicised) several of the last government's more egregious civil rights abuses.
"MP: Look, I know f*** all about most things I go to vote on. Frankly, we need some people who know what they’re going on about. You can’t expect MPs to know about the Bills they’re voting on."