Lee Anderson has torn into the state of the House of Lords after GB News revealed Reform UK remains “shunned” from the upper chamber.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform chairman insisted the House of Lords needed shaking up, slamming it as the “most expensive care home in Europe”.
Mr Anderson said his party was being “kept out of the democratic process”, arguing that millions of voters deserved representation in Parliament.
“We've got 4.1 million votes at the last general election. That's a fair chunk of the electorate,” he said, adding: “We've got millions of people that voted for us at the general election.
“We swept the board at the local elections... We've got two mayors. We've got a police and crime commissioner.”
“Our support is growing. We've got the largest political party in the country.”
“I think it's only fair that we should have seats in the House of Lords,” Mr Anderson insisted.
“We haven't got any Lords sitting in, so we're shunned out. They're trying to keep us quiet. Reform UK isn't allowed in there. And that's just wrong.
“It's wrong for us as democratically elected members of Parliament. And it's wrong for the millions of people that support us up and down the country that want a voice in the House of Lords.”
Mr Anderson claimed the decision over select committee representation rested with the Leader of the House, saying: “The leader of the House can change the rules.”
He added: “We've asked the leader... if we could go on select committees. And the answer is always a big fat no.”
“It's part of the democratic process,” he said, adding: “They scrutinise legislation, they ping pong it back and forth.”
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He stressed the importance of the chamber being as dynamic and representative as possible.
“I would say it's the most expensive care home in Europe at the moment, when you see them doddering about going in and out,” he said.
The Reform MP expanded his criticism of Westminster, pointing out how Reform MPs had been kept out of parliamentary business.
“We’ve got eight MPs, and we're not allowed on the bill committees, we're not allowed on the select committees. We're not allowed on the draft legislation committee.
“We're not on any select committees whatsoever,” he stressed.
“This is the uniparty system trying to block us out.”
Mr Anderson was speaking after GB News revealed that sources across the political spectrum have raised concerns over Reform being “unjustly denied” the right to nominate supporters for honours.
They told The People’s Channel that Nigel Farage was more than entitled to complain about the “democratic disparity” in Parliament.
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