A NEW study has found that members of the House of Lords with links to Scotland, being either Scottish born or who represented Scottish constituencies when they were democratically elected politicians, have a shockingly low attendance rate, turning up for sessions of the upper chamber of the UK Parliament only around a half of the time.
Two peers, the Labour peer Lord MacKenzie of Culkein and the crossbencher Lord Smith of Kelvin - no, I'd never heard of them either - showed up for just three days between September 2021 and February this year, even though the House was in session for 82 days during that period.
Controversial Conservative peer Michelle Mone and former Scottish First Minister Jim Wallace showed up for just four days out of the 82. Ruth Davidson, the erstwhile saviour of the union, showed up for just over a quarter of the possible sessions.
Mind you perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies. By not turning up these so-called Lords and Ladies, all of whom to a man and woman owe their position to the anti-independence parties, have fewer opportunities to damage Scotland's interests.
One of the peers who does show up more often is former Labour MP George Foulkes, Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, whose Native American name is Dances With Polis, seems to spend the time that he does contribute to proceedings in the House of Lords in increasingly outrageous attempts to undermine democracy in Scotland, introducing quixotic bills which are blatant attempts to overrule the will of the Scottish electorate, who have dared to cast their votes in ways which this unelected man whom no one can hold to account does not approve of.
Foulkes recently attempted to introduce a bill which would have effectively made it unlawful for Holyrood to hold an independence referendum, no matter how clear a mandate it has been given for one by the people of Scotland. Well after all, Foulkes has no need for democracy, so obviously he thinks that it can be abolished for everyone else too.
There are already more than 800 members of the Lords, making it one of the most bloated legislatures in the world. British political parties use it as a means of ensuring that failed politicians who have been rejected by the electorate can still wield political influence and have an input on shaping laws and public policy, we are looking at you here, loser's loser Michael Forsyth, AKA Baron Thatcherite of Drumlean.
Ruth Davidson is also in this category, although she stood down as an elected MSP and accepted a peerage before having to face the humiliation of losing her seat in a democratic election.
Davidson's Edinburgh Central seat reverted to the SNP at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, had she remained an MSP she would have suffered a fatal blow to her carefully constructed image as the Scottish Tory leader who took on the SNP and detoxified her party. But no amount of Davidson's PR jobs with her pals in the Scottish media could hide the truth of a Conservative party that is rotten to the core.
Boris Johnson appears set to increase the bloat of the House of Lords even more. As an outgoing Prime Minister, the Westminster system gives him the right to a final honours list. Johnson will use the opportunity this affords him to stuff the Lords with his pals, cronies, and the payers of his wallpaper bills.
We can look forward to Alister Jack and Nadine Dorries being given peerages for services to brown-nosing, allowing Jack the opportunity to continue his patrician meddling in Scottish public life even when the residents of Dumfries and Galloway finally show some sense and vote him out of office.
There is no prospect of either Labour or the Tories reforming this offence to democracy, it is far too useful to party leaders, allowing them to dangle the prospect of a peerage as a means of buying loyalty.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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