realities

abour peers will shortly welcome five new members to our Group in the Lords and will do so with pleasure. Notwithstanding this, our task in winning votes is about to become more challenging because the Coalition ranks will, at the same time, swell by 24, including 14 Tories and 10 Lib Dems. Maybe the Government is determined to fulfil the Coalition Agreement commitment to create a second Chamber reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election. Or perhaps they are fed up with losing votes, despite a combined strength that is soon to rise to over 100 more than Labour. Either way, the Government is incrementally trying to curtail opposition and thereby reduce the degree to which bills can be changed in the Lords. That will certainly be harder in the final 20 months of this Parliament. I am proud that, since the 2010 election, Labour peers have won 79 votes and that many bills have been substantially improved thanks to the power of our advocacy and the support of those cross-benchers who see the merits of our argument. We will continue to be effective, scrutinising legislation and holding the Government to account. New colleagues, however, may also be surprised by the reality of life in the Lords.
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Labour Peers will continue to lobby for the right to lobby, says Baroness Royall

Debates, while conducted in a very different way to the Commons, are often extremely political and can be truly remarkable both in content and in the alliances that come together to pursue a common cause. I will never get used to sharing a division lobby with some who served in the Thatcher Cabinets, but Im always grateful for their support. Recent examples include the tremendous majority in favour of same-sex marriage, the determination to secure effective regulation of

New colleagues may be surprised by the reality of life in the House of Lords
the press, the opposition to George Osbornes daft shares-for-rights scheme and, while there was no vote, the superb debate on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Even with the Coalitions increased political majority, we will continue to try to amend bills and ensure that legislation addresses the needs of the people of our country rather than the political priorities of the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. Some of the more extraordinary peers provide a tangible link with great events of the past. Denis Healey, for example, might seldom attend the House these days, but has just celebrated his 96th birthday. Others, meanwhile, have changed our society in some profound way, be it medical, cultural, scientific or political. We have doctors who

Baroness Janet Royall of Blaisdon is Shadow Leader of the House of the Lords
20 September 2013 | THE HOUSE MAGAZINE | 47

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Red bench

were practicing when the NHS was born, and the redoubtable Baroness Trumpington, who was able to speak personally about Alan Turing in the recent Second Reading of a Statutory Pardon Bill. They bring vast experience, and complement the skills and talents of younger colleagues who have helped encourage a growing number of us to blog and use Twitter, to get our messages across and keep us more immediately alert to concerns about particular legislative issues. In the last few years, the constructive ways in which we work with the multitude of lobbies has been enhanced by our use of social media in relation, for example, to welfare, legal aid, education, and now lobbying itself. It is one thing for the Government to pack the Lords with supporters in order to win votes but quite another to propose a gag on campaigning by charities and civil society organisations in the run-up to a general election. For all the Governments talk of a new politics, the Lobbying Bill demonstrates that Coalition Ministers do not value the voice of the people of our country, preferring instead to scupper engagement between those worried about legislation and those in Parliament working on the bills. Lobbying often has a bad name, but the information provided to parliamentarians by outside organisations is invaluable. Earlier this year I tabled an Amendment to the Care Bill on carers for those with cancer. This is an issue I feel passionately about but, quite frankly, I would not have intervened without the excellent MacMillan Cancer Support drawing my attention to the issue and providing a briefing. I very much hope that the Lobbying Bill will be fundamentally changed in the Commons. If not, we in the Lords will certainly work with charities, NGOs and the lobbying industry itself to forge the necessary alliances to radically amend it. Labour Peers have a fine track record in delivering change to legislation, and that is what we will continue to do.