> SNP Deputy Leader, Pete Wishart, will lodge an amendment to see the Lord’s abolished entirely, but he will also lodge a further amendment to force peers to pay income tax on their parliamentary pay.
> The tax-free pay — currently worth up to £361 per day — is payable to Members of the House of Lords for any day they turn up in Parliament, even just to sign in to confirm their attendance.
> Last year, Lords claimed more than £20million in attendance allowances — all tax free. The SNP said that this means peers avoided up to £9m in income tax last year
> The cost of the House of Lords was also £212 million last year, according to research from the House of Commons Library commissioned by the SNP.
> **Wishart has now challenged Labour MPs in Scotland to back his amendments which he says are the “only viable option for anyone who believes in democracy.”**
> He said: **“Unlike the Westminster parties, the SNP want the House of Lords abolished – plain and simple. There’s no justification for this undemocratic and outdated institution to exist any longer and it’s a complete joke for their members not to pay a single penny of income tax on their salary for simply turning up.**
> The senior SNP figure added: “The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and, frankly, this embarrassingly limited bill is 114 years too little, too late. Voters were promised change, but instead Sir Keir Starmer has ripped up his election pledges, and continued stuffing the Lords with Labour Party donors and cronies as it suits him.
> “The undemocratic House of Lords is an archaic institution of the kind you’d find in a banana republic and it’s second-only in size to the Congress of China costing taxpayers more than £200million a year. If it was any other country, the government would rightly think it utterly corrupt, but while the Labour Party may have watered down their promises on Lords reform, our values in the SNP remain clear – abolish it and abolish it now.”
Sabotaging bills by tagging crap onto them, reminds me of US politics.
Seriously is the SNP so out of ideas this is all they have left?
SNPs plot to make Labour do what they have been promising since the parties inception a 100 odd years ago and every so often (mainly when campaigning) say they still intent to do but forget once in power, instead stuffing it with more of their own lot.
No fan of the SNP but on this one I’m 100% with them.
I’m all for an upper house, but the HoL is a total joke. I was aware of the attendance allowance, but I didn’t know that it was tax free. Fucking hell.
Disgusting and unparliamentary behaviour from the SNP – amending a bill like it was some sort of opposition-day motion that condemned the mass slaughter of civilians and committed the UK to act? What do they think they’re playing at.
Abolishing it entirely isn’t going to happen any time soon, but I didn’t realise their attendance fees weren’t taxed. That’s worth addressing as a starting point
good wee need shot of the cunts.
I always hated this house of lords, particularly in recent years with Liz Truss and Boris appointing anyone with a pulse.
However, my view is starting to change slightly in this age of population. The calibre of politicians and movement to population in Europe/US/UK, may mean the HoL is actually a backstop to politicians worst intentions.
Is it ‘sabotage’ to try and force Labour to do what they’ve been promising to do, on and off, for the past 100 years?
How dare… wait? Don’t we want this?
Given that Pete Wishart is on record as supporting a second chamber of some form, this seems a strange approach.
“the UK is a complex democracy and some sort of revising Chamber would be required to take care of all its specific demands. […] We cannot have competition with the House of Commons, but surely abolishing the House of Lords would not mean that we were left with nothing. There must be something we can think of to go in its place.”
Silly abolition amendments with no actual contribution to the debate on the future of the second chamber seems more like a stunt than real engagement.
I wish the SNP would plot to build more homes, plot to get the trains running on time and for a reasonable price and to plot to tackle sky high rents.
12 comments
> SNP Deputy Leader, Pete Wishart, will lodge an amendment to see the Lord’s abolished entirely, but he will also lodge a further amendment to force peers to pay income tax on their parliamentary pay.
> The tax-free pay — currently worth up to £361 per day — is payable to Members of the House of Lords for any day they turn up in Parliament, even just to sign in to confirm their attendance.
> Last year, Lords claimed more than £20million in attendance allowances — all tax free. The SNP said that this means peers avoided up to £9m in income tax last year
> The cost of the House of Lords was also £212 million last year, according to research from the House of Commons Library commissioned by the SNP.
> **Wishart has now challenged Labour MPs in Scotland to back his amendments which he says are the “only viable option for anyone who believes in democracy.”**
> He said: **“Unlike the Westminster parties, the SNP want the House of Lords abolished – plain and simple. There’s no justification for this undemocratic and outdated institution to exist any longer and it’s a complete joke for their members not to pay a single penny of income tax on their salary for simply turning up.**
> The senior SNP figure added: “The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and, frankly, this embarrassingly limited bill is 114 years too little, too late. Voters were promised change, but instead Sir Keir Starmer has ripped up his election pledges, and continued stuffing the Lords with Labour Party donors and cronies as it suits him.
> “The undemocratic House of Lords is an archaic institution of the kind you’d find in a banana republic and it’s second-only in size to the Congress of China costing taxpayers more than £200million a year. If it was any other country, the government would rightly think it utterly corrupt, but while the Labour Party may have watered down their promises on Lords reform, our values in the SNP remain clear – abolish it and abolish it now.”
Sabotaging bills by tagging crap onto them, reminds me of US politics.
Seriously is the SNP so out of ideas this is all they have left?
SNPs plot to make Labour do what they have been promising since the parties inception a 100 odd years ago and every so often (mainly when campaigning) say they still intent to do but forget once in power, instead stuffing it with more of their own lot.
No fan of the SNP but on this one I’m 100% with them.
I’m all for an upper house, but the HoL is a total joke. I was aware of the attendance allowance, but I didn’t know that it was tax free. Fucking hell.
Disgusting and unparliamentary behaviour from the SNP – amending a bill like it was some sort of opposition-day motion that condemned the mass slaughter of civilians and committed the UK to act? What do they think they’re playing at.
Abolishing it entirely isn’t going to happen any time soon, but I didn’t realise their attendance fees weren’t taxed. That’s worth addressing as a starting point
good wee need shot of the cunts.
I always hated this house of lords, particularly in recent years with Liz Truss and Boris appointing anyone with a pulse.
However, my view is starting to change slightly in this age of population. The calibre of politicians and movement to population in Europe/US/UK, may mean the HoL is actually a backstop to politicians worst intentions.
Is it ‘sabotage’ to try and force Labour to do what they’ve been promising to do, on and off, for the past 100 years?
How dare… wait? Don’t we want this?
Given that Pete Wishart is on record as supporting a second chamber of some form, this seems a strange approach.
“the UK is a complex democracy and some sort of revising Chamber would be required to take care of all its specific demands. […] We cannot have competition with the House of Commons, but surely abolishing the House of Lords would not mean that we were left with nothing. There must be something we can think of to go in its place.”
Silly abolition amendments with no actual contribution to the debate on the future of the second chamber seems more like a stunt than real engagement.
I wish the SNP would plot to build more homes, plot to get the trains running on time and for a reasonable price and to plot to tackle sky high rents.
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