SCOTTISH Greens have insisted the UK government “must abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a fully democratic second chamber” if it is to restore trust.

The party’s constitutional spokesman Patrick Harvie MSP made the call in the wake of scandals involving peers Peter Mandelson and Matthew Doyle currently enveloping No 10.

Branding the situation “a flashing red warning light,” he said: “It’s far from the first scandal. We’ve seen dodgy lobbying, cash for access, criminal convictions and more. 

“The House of Lords is an unelected chamber for retired and failed politicians, along with party donors and former insiders who face no democratic scrutiny.”

He added: “For generations Labour has promised reform, yet whenever it has had the chance it has simply added more of its own allies to the red benches. The Conservatives have done the same. 

“The result is a bloated chamber that acts as a retirement home for the political Establishment.

“If the UK government is genuinely serious about restoring public trust, it must abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a fully democratic second chamber.”