LETTER: End of the peers?

Sunday 18 October 1998 23:02 BST

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LETTER:

End of the peers?

Sir: If the reform of the House of Lords is "Hague's great opportunity" (Donald Macintyre, 16 October), surely it is also the Monarch's great opportunity. Here are possibilities for grander reforms than just cutting the people who walk backwards at the opening of Parliament.

Why not include in the reformed second chamber elected members from associations which have the Queen as their patron? To choose peers from the Royal Society, the General Synod, the Royal School of Nursing, even from the Scout movement, would create a group of individuals with very diverse backgrounds and specialities. Areas of our nation's life not adequately represented would cry out for royal patronage.

JOHN LONGUET-HIGGINS

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

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