Reforming the House of Lords: lessons from overseas

Meg Russell, Oxford University Press, 368 pages, hardback, £18.99

The reform of the House of Lords has already begun with a reduction in the number of hereditary peers and the proposed abolition of them for the future. Though the number of life peers remains untouched for the moment, there is wide debate over the replacement of the Lords with another upper chamber; what its powers should be and how it would be elected or appointed.

Two-chamber parliaments exist worldwide, and this author makes a detailed study of the composition and work of second chambers in seven different countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain. She shows how the Canadian system is most like that in the UK, with its House of Commons elected by "first-past-the-post" and the upper house comprising members appointed by the government. Very different is the position in Australia, where both the lower and the upper houses are elected by different forms of proportional representation.