Lessons to learn from the Italian elections

There are some very important lessons to be learned from what is going on in Italy at the moment. One of these is about the benefits or otherwise of having two elected chambers.

The reason there are question marks over the ability of either party to govern effectively following the Italian elections is because of the equal status of both elected houses. I suspect that this "equal status" would not be the same for a second elected chamber in Britain. But having that elected element will, almost certainly, lead to calls for more parity, including giving the new Chamber the ability to vote against legislation without the Parliament Act being invoked. One possible outcome of this would be a situation where the Government are totally unable to regulate.

Maybe Blair already knows this is an inevitable consequence of House of Lords reform; it could be the only possible reason for the totally undemocratic Regulatory Reform Bill.