Neutering The Lords

Thomas Bingham thinks Britain should ditch the House of Lords and create a "Council of the Realm":

This body would differ from the House of Lords superficially in that membership would involve no outdated pretence of nobility, and it would differ fundamentally in having no legislative power. It could not make law. It could not (save in one respect which I shall discuss shortly) obstruct the will of the Commons. There would be no persisting democratic deficit.

The Council would, however, resemble the House of Lords in crucial respects. Its members, appointed not elected, would be very much the same people, and the same sorts of people, as now make up the house. It would perform, but in an advisory and not a lawmaking way, the revising function it now performs. Its expert committees could function much as they do now. It could debate issues of public moment. In this way the most valuable functions of the existing house could be preserved, but the features of the house which fuel calls for reform could be eliminated.

He then outlines 12 questions such a reform would provoke.