HOUSE OF LORDS: LORD SPEAKER'S COMMITTEE REPORT

19 December 2017: Motion to Take Note: Lord Burns moved that this House takes note of the Report of the Lord Speaker’s committee on the size of the House. During the course of the debate.... Lord Faulkner of Worcester "My Lords, I have known the noble Lord, Lord Burns, for some 30 years as a friend and I have always admired his ability to win people over by the power of persuasion. That quality he and his fellow committee members have shown in abundance with this brilliant report, and I, like other speakers in this debate, congratulate them. My most earnest hope is that this report will not go the same way as an earlier Burns report on another British institution, which in that case was oversized, outdated, unrepresentative and predominantly white, male and middle-class. I am referring, of course, to the English Football Association. Despite early indications in 2006 that the recommendations of the noble Lord, Lord Burns, were to be accepted in full, so little progress was made that the noble Lord appeared in ​front of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee five years on, and the report in the Guardian of that session carried the headline: “Lord Burns accuses FA of losing plot over regulation.” As numerous speakers in this debate have already said, this may be the last opportunity we have to address the challenges facing this place, and I urge us not to lose the plot...." ... continue reading this contribution

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