Lecturer not sure of usefulness of Upper House

?A VISITING BRITISH LAW professor has thrown cold water on the idea of an Upper House of Parliament.
Dr Derek Anthony O’Brien, principal lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, England, made the suggestion after delivering a lecture at the Faculty of Law of the Cave Hill Campus University of the West Indies earlier this week.
He spoke on the topic Commonwealth Caribbean Parliaments: Challenges To Constitutional Legitimacy.
In answer to a question on whether there would be a need for the Upper House should a system of proportionality be adopted in the Lower House, O’Brien said there were some Caribbean countries that had both and England has had its Upper House for over 100 years.
“But I am not sure, apart from blocking a constitutional amendment, what function upper houses are serving,” he said.
“Generally, unless you have some form of election to the Upper House, it just completely lacks any democratic legitimacy,” he told his audience.
He further said the privileges of freedom of speech and privilege of parliament, in parliaments across the region, had been eroded by judgements of the courts.
He also gave examples of battles in other jurisdictions between parties and speakers of the House and lawsuits/legal decisions which arose from statements and papers laid in Parliament.