Out-of-touch Lords remain a barrier to proper democracy

‘They reflect the prejudices and interests of Westminster's elite’

- Tim Newark

The majority of peers - 785 of them, more than our number of MPs are appointed by political parties, and reflect the prejudices and interests of Westminster's elite: anti-Brexit, pro-EU, pro-mass migration and pro-globalisation.

There have only ever been five Ukip peers and the current membership makes it the largest upper house in the world far larger than the US Senate, with just 100 members. 

Tony Blair and David Cameron stuffed it with likeminded supporters, and it was Blair's former attorney general, Baron Goldsmith-renowned for his opposition to terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay and winning a High Court injunction to stop the BBC reporting on New Labour's cash-for-honours scandal - who led the charge.

THE Lords cannot prevent bills passing into law, but they can delay the enactment for up to a year which, in the case of the Rwanda Bill, effectively leaves it dead in the water, with a general election looming in the autumn and Labour having roundly rejected the scheme.

Rishi Sunak can and should ignore the Lords and pass the bill anyway.