A Directly Elected Upper House: Lessons from Italy and Australia

In: (Constitution Unit Publications 39 ). The Constitution Unit, Department of Political Science, UCL: London, UK.

Abstract

One obvious way of achieving the 'more democratic' upper house which the Labour government has promised would be for its members to be elected. Many other countries elect their upper houses and this briefing looks at what lessons can be drawn from two of them - Italy and Australia. Would a directly elected second chamber simply mirror the lower house? Would it be too powerful? What electoral system would it be appropriate to use? What would be the impact on the British political system? The briefing seeks to answer some of these questions.