I want a seat in the House of Lords please

Are you a peer vq .....if not, no you can’t.
Drawing the payment should equate with work being done from home, and no doubt some are working, but as for the rest!
Working voluntarily until Parliament sits again would have sent a good message IMHO.They are not MP’s with constituency work to do after all.

It is really out of order, especially when other people, like nurses, doctors, carers, cleaners, etc, etc, etc, are working their guts out at significant risk to themselves.

Exactly right Eleothan why do these people have such a sense of entitlement.

You only have to watch the chamber on television to note that many of those who do attend use the opportunity for a nap.One only has to listen to the lyrics of G&S to hear the dissatisfaction with an unelected chamber 150 years ago. Nothing much has or will change when the Turkeys are the only ones who can vote for Christmas.

ARGH!!! that is the first thing that should be changed. total corruption.

never thought I would say this, as I have always been a Traditionalist..

elect the second House.
but first of all, stop the corruption of paying these exorbitant unwarranted,, UNEARNED monies

It was said by a past prime minister (I think) that salaries should be related to the usefulness and necessity of the job being done (or something like that).
In which case, why are MPs, bank executives etc paid so much and nurses, carers, bin men, etc paid so little?
Time for a major re-think?
And what about a tax on the big companies (that are registered off shore for tax purposes) to pay tax on the money made from purchases made in this country?
A major rethink of how the higher paid pay (or not) taxes and how their allowances are worked out?
I do remember one CEO saying that he paid less tax than his cleaner. Disgusting.

New Zealand Prime Minister and Government are taking 20% pay cut.

The House of Lords should be abolished.

I would much rather have the House of Lords as it stands than two Houses elected along political party lines. The USA is a dreadful warning to us...

There has been shameful abuse of the system by some members of the House of Lords - a programme some years ago, when the hereditary peerages were abolished, featured an elderly couple who were bemoaning the fact that now they couldn't travel up to London (first class at taxpayers expense) and see their friends and have lunch in the House (at taxpayers expense) What they and others like them must have cost this country over the years, with no benefit to the country, is absolutely scandalous. Lord Hanningfield was convicted of an expense fraud but soon resumed his daily visit to Westminster, staying for 40 minutes or so and then going home, claiming the daily allowance of hundreds of pounds. This is so fundamently wrong and the whole system needs a real shake up to ensure that those who do work and contribute in the House of Lords are not regarded in the same way as those who are simply spongers.

Isn't it time that the second house gets paid for the job it does and not drawing expenses? How many of us get paid for travelling to work, etc? They should be "appraised" for their work like most people and asked to leave their jobs if they can't do them properly.

Be very careful what you wish for. Despite all the comment against the HOL when it comes to legislation their usefulness has been apparent. Do not break the system untilyou have a suitable or better alternative.

Wow! MaizieD we agree - couldn’t have said it better!

I agree totally that the Lords shouldn't be paid just for turning up and then being able to go home straight after. Any employee going straight home would be sacked very quickly. There definitely needs to be a re-think on what they actually do, and if they haven't got a specific need to be there, then they don't get a 'wage'.

I have never understood how the H of L has manged to survive as it has. Well actually I do- lots of MPs who look on it as somewhere to progress to and a way to make nice little gifts to their friends and supporters. I have never understood why an accident of birth should entitle someone to decide how laws are made, or why that right should be handed to someone for some aspect of success in their life. And yes the chamber has occasionally managed to delay or pass back to the Hof C legislation for further consultation. But if we looked at the cost of each of those occasions it is huge and certainly not value for money. The fact that they now consider they should be paid for working from home shows how out of touch they are. Replace them asap.

CardiffJaguar Have to agree with you. Yes there does seem to be an enormous amount of money involved and this could be reviewed just like all publicly funded systems are having to undergo. As to the 'napping' I was informed quite some time ago that to hear what is being said people often gave to lean down to the little speakers we see inserted in the back of the seats hence the look of nodding off.

I have never understood why an accident of birth should entitle someone to decide how laws are made,

Never studied any History, eh, trisher?

Those who owned the land ruled the land...

I still wouldn't want an elected 2nd House, though.

MaizieD in feudal times perhaps. We have had a H of C elected by ordinary working people for over 100 years but still power is handed to some on the basis of birth. Why still?

The HoL is a very useful tool and has some very clever and knowledgeable member who contribute an awful lot, but I think there are too many entitled to sit who take advantage of the system and milk it. Just because they can take the money doesn’t mean they should.

I am with MaizieD on this, just because a few abuse the system the HoL is far better than a second elected house.

It's not so much accident of birth - although that obviously contributes to status - but a question of who could punch hardest. Let's be honest - the House of Windsor would not be on the throne now if the Queen's ancestors, however remote and fragile the connection, had not had the winning army.

If you had read the report properly rather than a newspaper headline what it actually said was that an 'insider" had said someone had made a fuss about not getting paid. Hardly what the newspaper headline said.

They still get paid £323 per day simply for turning up (in normal circumstances).

Sleeping in your armchair with the laptop turned on instead of sleeping on those uncomfortable Lords benches should definitely cost the tax payer less !!! It’s outrageous !