HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWIA 0AA Dr Kim Howells MP Minister of State for the Middle East & the Americas, Foreign & Commonwealth Office 18" December 2007 Mr Jonathan Bishop 8 Heol y Parc Efail Isaf PONTYPRIDD CF38 1AN Dear Mr Bishop, T enclose, for. your information and observations, a copy of the reply which I have received from the authorities in relation to the matter that you raised. Best wishes, Yours sincerely, fon facet” DR KIM HOWELLS Member of Parliament for Pontypridd Constituency Address: 16 Tyfica Road, Pontypridd CF37 2DA_ Tel: 01443 402551 Fax: 01443 4856282 Ministry of Lond Hunt of Kings Heath OBE Secretary of Sates JUSTICE seceehe st vido Stet tonaen SHE CoM Tesorzioorn F og 210 oer E goal quotes sco gl gov Dr Kim Howells MP ‘www Justice. gov.uk House of Commons London SW1A OAA Your Ref 10031 Ob December 2007 Our Ref 179293 Ve. Mr Jonathan Bishop, 8 Heol-y-Parc, Efail Isat, Pontypridd, CF38 1AN Thank you for your letter of 2 November enclosing correspondence from Mr Bishop on House of Lords reform. Mr Bishop has written previously on the issue of indirect elections to a reformed second chamber and | note his further comments. As Maria Eagle said in her letter of 24 September, we will enact the will of the House of Commons and will develop reforms for a substantially or wholly elected second chamber. The 2000 Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords considered the Issue of indirect election and concluded that a number of obstacles and issues of principle exist which dissuaded it from this approach. Many elements to Commons supremacy are not affected by the composition of the House of Lords. We said in our White Paper, The House of Lords: Reform, published February 2007, that a ref use should not threaten the principle of primacy and must not be a rival-to- the House of Commons (6.7). ‘We are developing proposals in line with this and intend to publish them in a White Paper. enclose a copy of this letter for you to pass on to Mr Bishop should you wish to do so. PHILIP HUI