Elected House of Lords, what would we lose?

This is a sample of the experience that Crossbench (non party aligned) members of the House of Lords have. I'm worried that if the Lords is filled with people from party lists we will lose this wealth of experience, I don't see how getting more party affiliated politicians could possibly match these backgrounds.

• Psychiatric social worker and chairman of the Harold Shipman inquiry and the Baby P inquiry
• Former Chief Constable of West Midlands Police
• Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford, former chair of the Food Standards Agency
• Former Permanent Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service
• Former Permanent Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service
• Former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
• Former Chief of the Defence Staff
• Human rights lawyer and former Chair of Oxfam
• Professor of Surgical Sciences at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University
• Professor of the psychiatry of learning disability at St George's, University of London, former president of the Royal Society of Psychiatrists
• Professor of Law at Queen Mary College, University of London
• Vice-president of Catch22, ambassador of Make Justice Work
• Former Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission
• Former Archbishop of York
• Chair of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, former chief executive of ChildLine and vice-chair of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation
• Former Chancellor and Chief Commander of St John Ambulance and former Chief Nursing Officer of South East Thames Regional Health Authority
• Chair of the Prison Reform Trust and former Private Secretary to the Queen
• Professor of Palliative Medicine at the Cardiff University School of Medicine and former president of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Former director-general of Age Concern England
• Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology at Oxford University and former director of the Royal Institution
• Disabled athlete
• former director of news at the BBC, chairman of Creative & Cultural Skills and former chair of the Royal Television Society
• Chairman of Alpha Hospital Group, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the London International Hospital, former Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Cromwell Hospital, President of The Little Foundation and Chairman of The Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths
• Former chairman of The World Ship Trust
• Gresham Professor of Divinity, former Church of England Bishop of Oxford; Chair of the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority Ethics and Law Committee
• Former senior diplomat
• Former chairman of Northern Foods, former chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force and Chairman of the Council of the Open University
• The Lord Burns Crossbench Life peer Former chief economic advisor and permanent secretary at the treasury
• Former president of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• Former Director-General of the BBC
• Founder and CEO of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust
• Former chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust and former chairman of both Refugee Action and the British Refugee Council
• etc.
• etc.
• etc.
• etc.

Ken Livingstone wants to abolish Bexley and Bromley

At a meeting of the West London Business Forum earlier in the campaign Ken Livingstone said of London's boroughs "I don’t think they are the right size for purpose now. I’d sweep the lot away and have five large sliced boroughs"

My friend and colleague Teresa O'Neill, Leader of Bexley council and the Conservative group on London Councils has torn Livingstone off a strip over his plans.

The Leader of London Councils’ Conservative Group, Cllr. Teresa O’Neill slammed the plans to scrap local democracy. She said: “Livingstone’s remarks betray his true ambitions: to do away with locally-elected councillors and centralise power in City Hall and five so-called “super-boroughs” designed to do his bidding, to the detriment of Londoners. The question is, do the hundreds of Labour councillors in London agree with Ken’s plans to scrap the boroughs?”  

She continued, “London Councils, chaired by Labour’s Jules Pipe, brings together the 32 borough leaders to work cross-party to improve life in the capital; it regularly meets with the Mayor, and ensures all our local communities have a voice at the highest level in the decisions that affect them.” 

Cllr. O’Neill explained, “Livingstone’s desire to “sweep the lot away and have five large sliced boroughs” demonstrates his utter contempt for local democracy and the dedicated public service of the 1,861 councillors who work hard for their residents, including the hundreds of Labour councillors currently out campaigning for him.”

“Mayor Boris is talking about the issues that really matter to Londoners: tackling crime, improving transport, creating new jobs, growing London’s economy, cutting taxes. By contrast, Livingstone and Labour are talking about bureaucratic re-organisations, which will cost more and make decision-making more remote and less accountable, denying local residents the right to decide what happens in their own neighbourhoods.” 

She continued, “This reveals Livingstone’s cynical and divisive approach to politics. For Ken, it’s all about grabbing power and then doling out favours to whichever interest group will support him rather than doing what is in the best interests of London .” 

Cllr. O’Neill concluded: “As councillors, we’re all here to serve the residents who elected us; we put in long hours attending meetings and events, holding surgeries and doing case work. London’s Labour councillors need to ask themselves why they support Ken Livingstone, when he’s so openly contemptuous of them and their public service. They also need to state publicly whether or not they support Ken’s plans to abolish them.”

Consider yourself told Mr Livingstone!

Boris's manifesto in full

Boris Johnson's election video

Livingstone hoisted on his own petard

If ever there was an example of a politician being caught out by his their own rhetoric the situation with Ken Livingstone and his tax arrangements is it.

Over on the Guardian, Livingstone his written a piece claiming that this tax argument, which is damaging him so much, is just a Tory trick to distract voters from the important issues affecting Londoners.  This might hold water if it was us who first brought up the issue of politician's tax arrangements, it wasn't it was Livingstone.  Far from being a Tory ploy it is a Livingstone cock-up from start to finish.

At every stage in this argument Livingstone has dug himself deeper into a hole, first calling his own judgement into question and now his honesty.  Judging by the comments stream underneath his article there are now many on the Left who are shocked by his levels of dishonesty, I'm just shocked it has taken them this long to work it out.

We has spent months reminding voters that Ken Livingstone has a history of broken promises while Boris has delivered on his.  No one has done more to reinforce that point in voters' minds than Ken Livingstone himself.  In an election about honesty, integrity and trust it was never a good idea for him to bring up a tax argument, lie about your own tax status, lie about your opponent's tax status and then tell everyone that it's all just a Tory dirty tricks campaign.

Fighting crime in London. Boris's policing manifesto

Today Boris launched his crime and policing manifesto.

click here to read manifesto in full

Let's not forget that in 2007 there were 27 teenagers murdered on London's streets and Livingstone's reaction was to blame the media for hyping up the situation "If it bleeds it leads" he said.  Violent crime had increased, drug crime had more than doubled and public disorder offences on the tube had increased by 521%.

There are now a 1,000 more full time officers on the London’s streets than there were in May 2008 and an extra 3,500 special constables. Total crime has been cut by 10.8%. Murders have decreased by 25.9%, with the lowest rate since 1978. Youth violence has decreased by 13.8%, with the number of youth murders almost halving.

Over 11,000 knives have been taken off the streets. Robberies are down by 16.3%. And bus crime has fallen by 30% since we put 697 extra police on the tube and buses.

The plan for the next four years is to continue the focus on front line policing and Boris will:

• Work with the Commissioner to deliver a massive boost to Safer Neighbourhood Teams, with an additional 2,000 police, including adding up to three police officers, to every team. Each team will also get three Special Constables to further boost police presence in our neighbourhoods. 
• Maintain the extra 1,000 police officers we have put on the street.
• Double the number of Special Constables to 10,000 and offer, for the first time in Greater London, a 50% rebate on the Mayor’s share of council tax to Special Constables.
• Establish a Safer Neighbourhood Board in every borough giving local Londoners and victims a greater voice in setting policing priorities, with a £1million fund across London.
• Lobby for legislation to introduce a direct entry scheme to the Met.
• Give local people a direct say in Community Payback.
• Establish a new Sentencing Unit for London with a focus on violence, especially knife crime.
• Maintain funding for the extra police on the transport network which is at risk under Ken Livingstone’s plans to take £1.14bn out of the transport budget.
• Double the size of the Met’s Status Dogs Unit and seek tougher sentences for those using dogs as weapons in Greater London.