Reforming the House of Lords

The House of Lords is, in many respects, an anomaly. Most mature democracies have a second parliamentary chamber, but relatively few of these are, like the House of Lords, unelected (though Canada and Jamaica, for instance, have appointed second houses).

It is by far the world’s largest second chamber: the Lords has around 844 sitting members; the French senate, the next largest, has around 348. With its 24 Lords Spiritual (bishops of the Church of England), it is, with Iran, one of two...