MADAM - re the article by Jesse Norman in last week's Ross Gazette Jesse Norman MP clarifies his position on the House of Lords: he doesn't just oppose the current reforms, but doesn't want the chamber elected at all. He opposes elections because he thinks newly elected politicians would be bound too tightly by the demands of their political party, and so be unable to offer 'independent judgement when it counts'.

Of course, MPs are voted in precisely because of their party, when people agree with those party's plans for the country - for all its faults, this is how our democracy actually works. And when MPs rebel, hearing the twang of personal conscience, they can do so because of the individual mandate received from their own constituency.

Members of the Lords lack either form of legitimacy, however 'independent' and 'expert' their judgement supposedly is.

In reality, the Lords is just a sort of retirement home for members of the Establishment, being stuffed with preposterous elites of immense privilege, who may know something about running a large corporation or heading a law court, but knowing little about the lives of most people. Why shouldn't they have to pay some attention to the rest of us every few years by seeking election?

Chris Hughes, Ross