I can’t help but think the hereditary system is a bad thing, but I’m not much of a fan of making it just like the Commons either, that seems redundant (though the US likes it, so what do I know).
I can’t think of a half-way good solution, and it seems the government can’t either (OTOH, if anyone can tell me a) what their plan actually is, and b) that it’s a good idea, I’d be interested), so I appeal to anyone here (non-Brits included) for suggestions.
Oh, and as a side point, anyone think replacing the monarchy with a president would be a good thing?
We have a similar question in Canada - our Senate is unelected, being appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, doesn’t do a hell of a lot, and is sort of like an Old Party Members Museum.
The NDP (my party) advocates abolishing or reforming the senate. One suggestion I’ve heard is to use the senate to introduce a measure of proportional representation to Parliament.
Replacing the monarchy with a presidency in the UK is pretty much a non-starter. After all, since the monarchy has no real political power now, it stands to reason that the presidency would have no political power as well…then what would it be for? Can you imagine the PM giving up any of his/her powers for the presidency? Besides, the president would either be some celebrity (Richard Branson is always mentioned, for reasons which are beyond my understanding) or a second-level politico (second-level because no-one would give up real power to be a powerless “head of state”). Either get rid of the monarchy or don’t, but a presidency is a bad idea.
As for what to do about the House of Lords, there seem to be a lot of ideas around (all-elected, a mix of appointed and elected members, a proportionally-represented elected chamber, I’ve even heard serious ideas of electing some of the members by lottery!). None of these will actually happen. Again, the House of Lords is for the most part politically powerless. For any new chamber to get real power, the House of Commons will have to give some of it up. I don’t see that ever happening.