Ken Clarke: The House of Lords needs to be reined in
After the House of Lords twice voted to delay the implementation of the government's controversial tax credit cuts, former chancellor Ken Clarke has said the upper house needs to be reined in with new laws.
Last week the Lords backed amendments from both Labour peer Baroness Hollis and crossbench peer Baroness Meacher, which frustrated the government's plans.
Read more: Ken Clarke tells chancellor George Osborne to push ahead with tax credit cuts despite criticism
Speaking to Sky News, Clarke said MPs should be placed on a "clear, legal footing". He added:
What I hope Tom Strathclyde will do, I would personally recommend it to him, is recommend that as quickly as possible we put into law and don't just rely on convention, that it is the House of Commons that decides tax and public spending.
You can't have the House of Lords just reading the newspapers, the Labour and Liberal parties deciding they agree with each other on a measure where the Government is having a row, a controversy, and voting it down.
Strathclyde has been asked by the Prime Minister to review of the powers of the unelected Lords.
Read more: Osborne's "rhetoric on tax credits is just empty words"
Clarke had previously said that chancellor George Osborne needed to accept that tax credit cuts were going to be unpopular, but should push ahead anyway as tax credits are unsustainable and the system is in need of reform.