Lords really should get a wage

I write “pay” because that is how the allowances are regarded by most peers. There is no salary or wage for being a member of the Lords, even though some of us were appointed as “working peers”.

The allowances are paid on a “per diem” basis – that’s Latin for “by the day” – and are claimed as set sums for each day we are there.

But the Inland Revenue regards them as expenses and does not tax them.

It’s all rather a mess and needs sorting out. We are waiting for a report from the Senior Salaries Review Body which we expect to get later this month.

As Labour MP John Mann has said, our allowances ought to be taxed. The Revenue seem to think that would be more trouble than it’s worth, which is not a position they are known to take with other people!

And if councillors’ allowances are taxed, why not their Lordships? But what is really needed is more radical. We ought to get a wage for doing the job we do.

The problem comes from the fact that half the House does indeed try to do a serious job and the other half doesn’t. (But whisper it – we’re not supposed to say that!) Meanwhile, we’ve just got a report from a small group of senior peers called the Leader’s Group on the Code of Conduct.

This was set up after the “questions for cash” scandal in which the Sunday Times fingered four Lords for taking money (or offering to take money) in return for asking questions – two of whom, including Lord Taylor of Blackburn, were subsequently suspended from the House.

What is proposed is an updated Code of Conduct which will ban all “paid advocacy”, and generally makes the rules clearer and rather crisper.

There will also be a new independent House of Lords Commissioner for Standards who will report to a high-level committee on Lords’ Interests with a right of appeal if required to the Committee for Privileges.

It all looks like a better system than in the Commons and maintains the independence of the House.