The weight given to minority representation and to the nominations
by the Prime Minister will enormously alter the complexion of the House, and, even though they will not pro- duce a Liberal majority, they will greatly reduce the Unionist preponderance. We approve, and mean to support the Bill on its merits, but, quite apart from those, as we have pointed out elsewhere, it has one signal advantage. It provides us with an Upper House which cannot be said to be too weak and unimportant a body to be entrusted with the duty of putting in operation the Referendum. Though we do not desire to see the main principles of the Bill altered in any way, there is one point of detail on which we think an improvement can be made. Even when all the categories are filled, we con- sider that if the Prime Minister wishes to transfer a colleague into the Upper House he should be able to do so without waiting for a vacancy. This means that not only should the Prime Minister be able to make a Cabinet Minister or an ex-Cabinet Minister a peer, even when the five peers of the year have been made, but also that any Cabinet Minister who is or becomes an hereditary peer should sit in the Upper House by virtue of these two facts and without having to be chosen, nominated, or elected.
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