Baroness D’Souza on how to keep the House of Lords relevant, Brexit, and the current government

When trying to find information about Baroness D’Souza, The Former Speaker of The House of Lords, a stream of articles relating to her recently exposed expenses will be all that appears. £4000 on Fresh Flowers over six years. Taxis kept waiting outside opera houses for hours. According to the Daily Mail her expenses totalled nearly £30,000 during her time as speaker. As shocking as these figures are, there is more to the Baroness than them. D’Souza is a vocal advocate of reforming the House of Lords, she has a history of human rights work, and she is passionate about issues regarding Brexit.

Drinking tea at our campus renowned Curiositea before her speech hosted by The University of Warwick’s Politics Society, explained how her political career began. She recounted how she worked as Executive Director of the Human Rights organization ‘Article 19’ from 1989 to 1998. Its name derived from the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ as the organization sought to defend the right to freedom of expression across the world. One of her last achievements in this role, spanning 9 years, was when Salman Rushdie came out of hiding at an Article 19 press conference in 1998.  Baroness D’Souza is witty, well-spoken and progressive in her thoughts on how to reform the House of Lords, especially in light of the Brexit negotiations.

D’Souza argues that major change is needed in order to keep the House of Lords relevant .

The House of Lords is a traditional British Institution, which according to D’Souza works to “advise and scrutinize” policy. Despite not having a “program motion” or the ability to “veto power”, the upper chamber is still crucial to our political system today as it can delay motions. As Lord Speaker from September 2011 until August 2016, D’Souza’s role was to chair debates in the House of Lords, as well act as representative at events, domestically and overseas.

Despite her role of great importance in the House, she argues that major change is needed in order to keep it relevant. Starting her talk, she noted that for years the general perception of the Lords had been simply “aged white males, sleeping in dressing gowns.” For this reason, “radical reform” is needed. D’Souza has been forefront in the debate of the size of the House of Lords, arguing that the number of individuals participating is not necessary. She believes that the house could “adequately cope with 400 people” and therefore become a “full-time house with part-time members.” Abolishment of the hereditary peers, the 92 members who have inherited their title, rather than being appointed, would also contribute to the reforms needed in the Lords. This notion began in in 1999 when the majority of Hereditary peers were removed; however, to this day, 92 remain. Reducing the size of the House of Lords would also tackle peers claiming their £300 daily expense, while failing to contribute to general discussion. The urge for reform in The House of Lords was shared by many of the students in attendance. Former President of Warwick Politics Society, Henry Riley, commented: “Despite the fact D’Souza May have a rose tinted view of the Lords from her lucrative position as Lord speaker, her general premise of reform is synonymous with an increasing demand for parliamentary change.”

The fragility of the current government is something she felt needed to be emphasised.

Brexit was also an issue that concerned D’Souza. During the interview, she was keen to grasp how Brexit was directly impacting students and whether we had already begun to feel the repercussions of exiting the European Union. The fragility of the current government was an issue she felt needed to be emphasized, noting that “democracy can disappear very quickly.” Acting on questionable political legitimacy, with a minority government forged on the partnership with the controversial DUP, it is clear to see how the executive are walking on a tightrope when the upcoming Brexit negotiations require strong and stable leadership.

D’Souza’s biggest concern of the night was arguably the Repeal Deal. This parliamentary act, more specifically the ‘Henry VIII’ clause, would give governments the power to change primary legislation (pre-existing laws) with secondary legislation. According to The New Statesmen, the clause allows “the government to tinker with legislation while avoiding parliamentary scrutiny.” Secondary legislation, according to D’Souza, is usually limited to “minor matters of legislation,” however, they usually go through parliament with little to no scrutiny. With such limited scope for holding a government to account, this was understandably a concern given the significance of these negotiations.

She believes “this is the time to be a politics student”.

The Guardian stated that “ministers argue that they need the powers because leaving the EU will require a vast body of law to be rewritten and many of the changes that will be made to primary legislation using Henry VIII powers will be technical.” Fundamentally, the Henry VIII clause is an issue of giving parliament too much power with regards to issues that concern the entire country. Ruth Fox, director of the Hansard Society’s parliament and government programme, recognizes that “if the government is going to ‘repeal, amend and improve’ EU-related law through the Great Repeal Bill, Parliament needs to have procedures in place to scrutinise the proposals effectively.” This certainly corroborates D’Souza’s point that “there is a very real threat that the Brexit process will empower the government, rather than Parliament.”

D’Souza in much more than her expenses, a scandal that she, wrongly or rightly, refers to as a “15-minute Daily Mail horror story.” Her discussions on Brexit are adding to the reoccurring debates on how much trust should we be putting into our government during the Brexit negotiations. Her emphasis on reform is optimistic, yet needed. She has had a career that spans decades worth of public service, from her Human Rights work to her work in The House of Lords. Although her time implementing change may be over, in front of a crowd of students she encourages optimism. And, to the delight of all the Politics Society members sitting watching her talk, she believes this is the “time to be a Politics Student.”