Not necessarily. Under election by PR, the experienced lawyers, businessmen and scientists who bring their wisdom to the Lords’ scrutiny of legislation would gradually be replaced by the same kind of career politicians who increasingly dominate the Commons. Supporters of change say we can’t go on as we are, however. Cameron has created 117 peers in less than a year, in a bid to reduce the advantage Labour built up during 13 years of appointments by Blair and Brown. The Lords has consequently been accused of being stuffed with “cronies”. Many peers also complain that, because there are now 792 peers compared to just 666 a decade ago, it’s hard to contribute regularly to debates and committees.