Yahoo News Nigel Farage calls for abolition of House of Lords
Nigel Farage has called for the abolition of the House of Lords today, one of several published Brexit Party pledges.
Scrapping HS2, £100 billion for “left behind regions” and zero business rates for High Street retailers also feature.
Mr Farage’s pledge to abolish the unelected second chamber comes days after he said he had been offered a peerage before he stood down his candidates for Tory-held seats.
The Brexit Party leader insisted his decision had nothing to do with the possibility of becoming a lord.
In a Facebook post, Mr Farage said today: “We need to abolish the House of Lords and start again.”
The party divides its policies into three areas - political reform, how it would spend what it calls a “Brexit dividend”, and its investment priorities.
It wants to replace the House of Lords with a “smaller, democratic” second chamber.
The Lords is a combination of appointed, religious and hereditary peers and it is often criticised for being antiquated and undemocratic.
The Brexit Party also wants to replace the first-past-the-post voting system with a method that provides “a more proportional system of representation”.
Petitions allowing voters to recall their MP - which would see them lose their seat, if successful - would be introduced if they change party.
The issue of allowing voters to force a by-election if their MP defects has been raised this year after several Conservative and Labour MPs left to stand as independents or join the Liberal Democrats.
Reform of the Supreme Court - which was criticised by some Leavers as blocking Brexit when it ruled Mr Johnson could not prorogue Parliament - is also among its priorities.
It claims it could “raise” £200 billion by scrapping the High Speed 2 rail link, not pay the European Union the £39 billion so-called divorce bill due under Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan and “redirect” half the foreign aid budget.
The party says it wants to spend £100 billion on roads and rail in “left behind” regions and invest in “free base-level domestic broadband” for all.
It pledges to reduce business rates for “High Street retailers and leisure operators outside the M25” to zero, funded by a “small” online sales tax, abolish inheritance tax and scrap all interest on student loans.
Lowering tariffs on food, clothing and footwear and investing in fishing, health and the environment are also listed.
