David Cameron and Lord Strathclyde, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, have announced a Task Force on Standards in the House of Lords.
It will examine urgently how to ensure the highest standards in the House of Lords, and to establish the necessary arrangements for doing so.
In particular it will examine enforceable mechanisms for suspending or excluding Peers guilty of misconduct. It will also examine any changes to the law which would be required to enable the removal of Peers in the most serious cases.
The Task Force will:
- review the current arrangements for securing standards of integrity and accountability, and recommend improvements;
- consider the impact of lobbying and advise on the most effective means of policing and preventing undue influence and ending paid advocacy;
- consider further the most appropriate sanctions for breaches of the Code of Conduct in the House of Lords, and how best to enforce them.
David said, "Today, it's not possible to suspend a member of the House of Lords no matter how badly he or she behaves, it's not possible to expel them from that legislature and yet they're making the laws that all of us have to obey."
And he added, "This is completely wrong, it needs to change and we will change it. We will make sure that members of the House of Lords, if they behave wrongly, can be suspended or expelled."