Sir John Redwood has written about his first two weeks in the House of Lords.
Now known as Baron Redwood of Wokingham, he took to his blog to share his experiences.
He said: “I have given my maiden speech, asked questions, intervened following a statement and delivered a speech on growth and the EU re-set.
“My first impression is there is plenty to do.
“My working week when in session will include more than a standard 37 hours on Lords business, including time in the chamber and committee, dealing with correspondence, talking to other peers, MPs and people seeking to influence public policy, reading to decide what to pursue and to offer policy advice, and to keep up to date with the wide ranging work of the revising chamber.
“My second is that the Lords does do a lot of detailed useful work on legislation that needs doing.
“The Commons often is too busy to do all the detail and the government often introduces lots of new material at the Lords stage.
“My third is that when a government with a majority loses control of its own MPs or lacks clear direction and purpose. The Lords has a more important advisory role, offering options and pushing back on bad compromises and temporary fixes grasped at by a sinking administration.
“I remain wedded to the doctrine that the elected House should make all the big decisions and Manifesto measures approved by electors should be allowed to pass.
“As an MP there were times when I thought the Lords right to challenge a Conservative government over a non manifesto measure or a bad response to new developments.
“The Commons need to ensure the Lords is not a better judge of the public mood or a better voter champion than elected MPs.
“My criticism of the Lords then and now remains the same. There are too many peers who read out dull repetitious establishment speeches. They use foolish, disproved and tired old soundbites to defend net zero, EU compliance, the tyranny of poorly performing “independent” bodies and strange interpretations of international law hostile to UK interests.
“The Lords, for example, should be interested in how the Bank of England presided over 11% inflation when it was meant to keep it to 2%, and how it is now losing taxpayers £20 billion a year.
“Giving more speeches about the wonders of independence does not help”.
